The Visitor
by fulcrum101
Summary: Red vs Blue X-over: After bringing down project Freelancer, Agent Washington is heading home with the blood-gulch crew. When the ship suffers a catastrophe, he's flung to another world at war.
1. Chapter 1

The Visitor

Summary: Red vs Blue X-over: After bringing down project Freelancer, Agent Washington is heading home with the blood-gulch crew. When the ship suffers a catastrophe, he's flung to another world at war.

Ch 1 the Innkeeper

Agent Washington jogged thru the halls of the ship, memories going thru his head. The time spent with project Freelancer, fighting with and against the red and blues, agents Maine, South Dakota, York, all the others.

Now, it was him and Carolina. And Epsilon. The last 3 main remnants of project Freelancer. Gripping his hair in frustration, he headed to the armory and grabbed one of the DMR. Loading a 15 round magazine, he aimed at the paper target and pulled the trigger until the rifle was empty.

Putting the DMR away, he grabbed an assault rifle and squeezed the trigger. The noise of rapid fire filled the air.

Tucker walked past the armory, and saw David practicing his knife throwing skills.

"Man, he's got issues." Tucker said, clearly remembering what Caboose told him.

 _Flashback…_

" _He did what?" Tucker asked._

" _Yeah. We were chasing this big gorilla that was armed with a grenade launcher, and we ran into this other Freelancer, and me and Washington helped her." Caboose said._

" _I'm sure you two did." Tucker said._

Washington was remembering that situation as well.

" _What do you suggest we do, Delta?"_

" _We do not allow her to hamper our progress." Delta said._

 _Wash slung his rifle and pulled out his pistol._

" _What are you going do to Wash? Shoo-" South said when David shot her._

" _Yes. I will." David coldly said._

" _You guys are some cold motherfuckers." Church said._

"Hey, Wash." Carolina said, walking next to him.

"Hey, Carolina." He said.

"So why didn't you kill the director?" David asked.

"I was there, ready to put a hole in that bastard's head. But I couldn't. It's like Epsilon said. Your past doesn't define you." Carolina said, prompting David to quickly look at her.

"You're right about that." David softly said.

"I'm heading to the mess hall. You might want to get your right hand checked." Carolina said.

David put his right hand next to a bulkhead, and noticed it was slightly shaking.

"Goddamn it." He muttered.

Absently walking thru the ship, his hand snagged on a wire and pulled the wire out of the wall.

"Oh. I just pulled a wire out of the wall. Hope that wasn't important."

It was important, was the alarms began to activate across the ship.

"What's going on?" Sarge asked.

"All hands, abandon ship. All hands, abandon ship."

"I'm gonna take a nap." Griff said.

"If you get killed, be sure not to tell us." Sarge said.

"Jesus Christ." David muttered in exasperation.

The ship's metal began to buckle and tear itself, and fires were breaking out all over the place.

"Escape pods are over here!" Carolina said, pointing down a hallway.

Running with the group, an explosion tosses him against inside a jutting room, knocking him out.

"Warning. Exiting slipspace."

Wash woke up and ran to a console.

"Computer, where am I?" he asked.

"System, unknown. Approaching planet, unknown." The dumb AI responded.

"How much of the ship is left?" Wash asked.

"15%."

"Damn."

Wash maneuvered thru the remains of the UNSC ship, noting how badly damaged the section he was marooned on. Heading to an armory, he takes stock of the weapons in the armory. He puts a combat knife on his chest, which doubled as a bayonet, and puts together several plasma and frag grenades on a bandolier.

Next, he grabs a DMR rifle laying around. It had a 3x scope that provided great accuracy. And with a 14 round magazine, it was capable of precise shooting. And with a bayonet mount, it was capable in hand to hand combat. Putting an M6D pistol on his hip, he grabbed the last weapon he needed.

It was the large SRS99-S5 sniper rifle. Firing a 14.5x144mm bullet, one shot was overkill against a human body. But David remembered fighting against the Covenant, and knew the high powered bullet was a great help against high tier enemies, such as brutes, hunters, and elites.

"Attention. Impact in a few minutes."

Wash looked out the window, and saw the remains of the ship break thru the atmosphere.

With little time left, he jury rigs a safety harness to hold him still and pushes scraps of metal ahead of him, hoping the metal would take the blunt of the crash, and spare him.

"Okay, Wash. Get ready." He muttered.

The remains crashed into the ground, and David was torn from his makeshift harness and slammed against the opposite wall, knocking him out.

' _Would you say you have overwhelming feelings of revenge?'_

' _More than you know.'_

Wash woke up, and surveyed the wreckage. It was a mess, with not much left. Putting his weapons and ammo aside, he worked on getting as much supplies as possible. But that was easier said than done. A state of the art ship, or part of it, crashed onto an unknown planet and Washington had to sort thru the debris.

2 full days were spent working on the wreckage, and Wash finally had everything he wanted. With a duffel bag, he filled the bag with all the ammunition that was available to him, putting the taped magazines in rows. DMR magazines on the left, SRS magazines on the right. The food was put in the middle.

"Time to get moving." He muttered.

David left the wreckage and hiked south east. Hours seemed to pass in an instant, as the landscape changed from jagged rocks and cliffs, to smooth desert roads. Something came up on view. Seeing a town, he slung his sniper rifle and walked into a town.

"Come on. We're talking about a gold piece here." A man said, pulling out his sword, and began to swipe them at an older man's feet.

"Leave them alone." David said, approaching them.

"Back away. I'm just here for some entertainment." The swordsman said.

Wash looked at the two men he was harassing. A fat older man, and a younger boy, with a nasty scar on his left side. Wash internally winced, reminded of Agent York, after his mishap in the training arena.

"Funny. So am I." Wash said, and threw a knife at the man, killing him as the blade went thru his eye.

Wash knelt over the dead man and pulled out a pouch. Inverting the push, he saw several coins fall into his hand. He picked up a gold piece and tossed it to the two guys.

"Thanks." The older man said.

"You're welcome." Wash curtly said, and walked away, putting the rest of the money away.

Wash wondered what kind of world he was living in. That man had swords, which were completely ancient compared to what he was used to. The clothing and buildings that he briefly saw also told him of an ancient civilization.

How ancient, was on his mind. But he had to find shelter before night came. Sure, he could sleep outside in his zero-g armor, but it was simply better to have roof over his head whenever possible.

Now heading in a north east direction, he came across another town and walked in. The night sky made it easier for him to blend in, but some people still talked when they took notice of an armored man, carrying strange weapons walking in the streets.

Approaching a hotel, he opened the front door and walked in. Noting how empty the first floor was, he approached the desk.

"Is anyone here?" He asked.

A woman came downstairs, and looked at Agent Washington, her eyes wide open.

"I'd like to stay here for one night." Washington said.

"Of course." She said.

"You the owner?" Washington asked.

"Yes." She said.

"How much?" Washington asked.

"20 silver pieces." She said.

Washington opened his pouch and poured the coins on the table. The owner grabbed a gold piece from the pile and gave Washington a dozen or so silver pieces back.

"Let me show you the room." She said.

Washington walked behind her and entered the room.

"Are you fire nation?" She asked, as she watched Washington walk in, getting a good look at the firepower he had on him. Two long metal objects, a duffel bag, and a knife on chest.

"No. What's the fire nation?" Washington asked.

"I'll tell you over breakfast, tomorrow morning." She said.

"Goodnight." Washington said, closing the door.

"Goodnight." Ursa said.

Ursa walked inside her room and almost threw up.

 _I spent years in the royal court, studying the movements of the human body, knowing who's from which country. But Washington… he's not from any of the 4 nations. Who is he?_


	2. Chapter 2 on the lam

Ch 2 on the lam

Wash woke up and put his armor on, then checked his weapons. So far, they were still working. He wanted to leave the hotel and keep moving. But his instincts from being in project Freelancer and the marines told him to get intel whenever the opportunity presented itself. He left his two rifles inside the room and carried his pistol and knife.

"Here's hoping she has good intel." Wash muttered.

Ursa put some food on a table and waited for Wash. As she waited, she looked at the customers and took a deep breath. If they knew she was once the wife of Ozai, mother of Zuko and Azula… she put the thoughts out of her mind, knowing what the retribution would be. And it wouldn't be pleasant.

And her thoughts drifted to the newest person to come in. She briefly wondered what kind of a name was Washington.

"Morning." Wash said.

Speak of the devil…

"Morning." Ursa said.

"So, name's Washington. Yours?" Wash asked.

Ursa raised an eyebrow at Washington's apparent lack of socialization skills.

"Ursa." She said.

"Nice to meet you, Ursa. You said you had some intel." Wash said.

"Straight to the point." Ursa said, drinking a cup of tea.

"It's who I am." Wash said.

"One question. You plan on staying for long?" Ursa asked.

"No. It's a rather long story, but I'm not from here." Wash said.

"Yeah. I figured that out when I saw your armor. Not even the fire nation has that stuff." Ursa said.

"Fire nation?" Wash asked.

"One of the three nations in the world. There was once peace, but the fire nation attacked. The war's been going on for 100 years." Ursa said.

Wash let the information settle in. He crashed on a planet at war, for a full century. He knew all about the horrors of war. And Ursa was hiding plenty of information. He could tell by the way she was darting her eyes.

Before Wash or Ursa could speak, a man came in. Ursa stood and walked towards him.

"Can I help you?" Ursa asked.

"Who knocks at the door?" the man asked.

 _What kind of a question is that?_ Wash thought, as he headed to his room to grab his weapons. His instincts told him it was going to get ugly real fast.

"One who has eaten the fruit, and tasted its mysteries." Ursa said, and headed to the counter to grab something, but then she stopped. She ran the recent memory thru her mind over and over, going thru the man's body movements.

"You're a firebender. Aren't you?" Ursa asked, as her hand went past a parchment and towards a sharp knife.

The man didn't respond, but grabbed Ursa and pinned her against the counter.

"How'd you know?" he asked.

"How'd you infiltrate the white lotus?" Ursa shouted back, and stabbed the firebender in the stomach.

He fell to his stomach, clutching the stomach wound. Ursa ran upstairs, with the parchment in her hand. The firebender fired a jet of flame out of his hand, trying to kill Ursa.

"What the hell is going on?!" Wash asked, as Ursa barged into his room.

"We need to leave, right now." Ursa said, putting the paper in her shirt.

Wash kicked the window open and grabbed Ursa.

"Hold on." He said, jumping out and landing on the hard ground. Wash ran as fast as he could, Ursa running behind him.

Shouting was heard as fire nation troops approached them. He ran out of the town, and heard fireballs go right past him.

"Holy shit." Wash shouted.

"Follow me!" Ursa said, running towards the hills. Looking back, she sees the Inn slowly, but surely catch fire, doomed to be a patch of charcoal in the near future.

"We can't outrun them." Wash warned.

As they ran up the hill, Wash stopped running. He turned around, DMR in his hand and started to fire at them.

Exhaling his breath, Wash carefully put the crosshairs between the eyes of the firebenders and pulled the trigger. 7 shots rang out, and 7 firebenders lay dead.

Ursa stood up and removed her hands from her ears, trying to drown out the gunshots.

"I stalled them for now. Keep walking." Wash said, slinging his DMR, and unslinging his sniper rifle.

"That thing's huge." Ursa said, her eyes glued to the sniper rifle.

 _It's not the only thing that's huge._ Wash thought.

"Yep. SRS-99 sniper rifle. Fires bullets 6 inches long." Wash said.

"Why would you need a weapon of that size?" Ursa asked.

"If you saw what I had to kill, you wouldn't ask." Wash said.

"We need to find the avatar." Ursa said, knowing he was alive.

"The what?" Wash asked.

"He's a person who can end the war." Ursa said.

"You know what he looks like?" Wash asked.

"I've heard he's a 12-year-old child, bald with blue arrow tattoos." Ursa said.

"But you haven't seen him personally." Wash said.

"No. I haven't." Ursa said.

"Ursa, stop." Wash said, stopping behind her.

"What happened back there? Some man came in, both you two said some cryptic shit, then all hell breaks loose. And now, I killed 7 firebenders to defend ourselves. What's going on?" Wash asked.

"Look, it's very complicated." Ursa said, not wanting to tell her past.

"Gee, I've been thru complicated shit as well. You tell me what happened back there, and I tell you a bit of myself." Wash said, hoping the compromise would work.

Ursa waited before choosing her words.

"I was raised among nobility and trained to recognize subtle body movements. That's how I could tell he was a firebender." Ursa said.

"And the fire nation has been waging war for the past century. But why would he suddenly attack you, and burn down the Inn?" Wash asked.

"Promise not to tell anyone what I'll tell you." Ursa said.

"Promise." Wash said.

"I'm with… I'm with the resistance." Ursa said, not mentioning the white lotus.

"That makes plenty of sense. You're with the resistance, firebender infiltrates the resistance, or so the theory fits, and all hell breaks loose." Wash said.

"That's correct. You make it sound simple." Ursa said.

"You'd be surprised how simple things can be." Wash said.

"Okay. I told you what happened, now you tell me about yourself." Ursa said.

"Okay. I'm a special ops soldier. Trained in just about everything you can think of." Wash said.

"Seen a lot?" Ursa asked.

"Yeah." Wash said, his voice suddenly tired.

A loud roar is heard, and a flying bison lands in front of them.

"You guys okay?" a young kid asks.

Washington looks at the boy, and quickly puts the pieces together.

"Are you the avatar?" Wash asks.

"Yeah. I'm Aang."

"Washington. And this is Ursa."


	3. Chapter 3 team avatar

Ch 3 team avatar

"So… what's up?" Aang asked, looking at the two new comers. One was covered with some strange armor, holding a long metal object of some sort. And the other was a beautiful woman wearing earth kingdom clothes.

"Avatar. It's an honor to meet you." Ursa said, walking forward and shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you to, Ursa." Aang said.

"Avatar, we're fugitives from the fire nation, and we need your help." Washington said.

"Wait. You two come out of nowhere, and expect our help?" Sokka asked.

"Sokka, if they're fugitives, we should help them." Aang said.

"Okay." Sokka said, keeping a wary eye on him.

"So where are you guys heading?" Ursa asked.

"We're really not sure." Sokka said.

"Great." Wash sarcastically said.

"I'm supposed to be learning earth-bending real soon. We're trying to find a good location." Aang said.

"Great. Now we should get moving, or be waiting for a bunch of firebenders to attack us." Wash said, having little patience for the moment.

"Wait a minute. Since when are you giving the orders?" Sokka asked.

"I just killed 7 firebenders, so unless you want the whole fire nation army on your tail, I suggest you take me and Ursa with you guys." Washington said.

"Fine." Sokka said.

Getting on Appa, they head towards another location in the Earth Kingdom. Everyone looks at Wash and Ursa, still unsure what to make of them.

"So, who are you two?" Katara asked.

"We're refugees from the earth kingdom. I am. Him…" Ursa said.

"I'm not from here. And that's all you'll know for now." Wash curtly said.

Wash kept his eyes on the group and made notes of them.

Aang, the youngest. He seemed carefree, and many would suspect he had ADHD. Wash knew from plenty of hard and cruel experiences that such behavior was certain death on the battlefield. He wouldn't trust Aang with his life. He noticed a young girl, the same age as Aang. And she was blind! He puts the information away and waits to see what Toph is made of. For the moment, she seemed to have the 'what you see is what you get' attitude. Wash had such a similar attitude.

Next, he looked at the two clad in blue clothing. He could tell they were siblings, based on similar facial and body structures.

"What are your names?" Wash asked.

"Huh?" Sokka asked.

"I didn't get your names." Wash said.

"I'm Katara. This is my brother, Sokka. Toph (points to her) is Aang's earthbending teacher." Katara said.

"Let me guess. Earthbending is where you can move earth." Wash said.

"That's right. There are 4 bending elements. Water, earth, fire, and air. Each element belongs to one nation." Aang said.

"You told me there were three. What happened to the fourth?" Wash asked Ursa.

"The airbenders, they were wiped out at the start of the war. I'm the last one." Aang said.

"I'm sorry about that." Wash said, and briefly looked at Ursa, noting that she had her hands clasped, but they were too tight to be put together comfortably. He would have to ask her about that later. His freelancer training made sure he took notice of every detail, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it is.

When they landed, Wash jumped off the bison, his rifle in hand.

"You look like you're expecting a threat." Sokka said, as he looked at the armor clad man.

"I am." Wash curtly said.

"This is a great camping spot. The grass is so soft." Toph said.

"That's not grass. Appa is shedding." Sokka said, taking his sleeping bag off the saddle.

Slinging his rifle, Wash grabs a piece of the hair. He removes his helmet and shows his face to everyone. He has pale skin, the result of years under the helmet and armor, brown eyes, and blond hair. Bringing his hand to his mouth, he blows and watches the hair fly off from the movement of air.

"Damn it." Wash growled, putting his helmet on and unslinging his sniper rifle.

"What's that?" Katara asked.

"It's a weapon. Stay here, I'll be back." Wash said, following the trail of fur Appa left behind.

As they saw the freelancer walk away, the group continued to set up camp.

"So, Ursa. Tell us about yourself." Aang said.

"I was born to earth kingdom nobles, and raised in the earth kingdom. When I was 18, I left home to travel the earth kingdom. Too bad there's a war going on." Ursa said.

"That's nice." Toph lazily says.

"Don't mind her. Toph left home to teach Aang earth bending. Comes from a similar background." Sokka said.

"Can't imagine why she left." Ursa said with plenty of sarcasm.

Ursa remembered living in the fire nation palace. She had the luxury, with everything at her disposal. But she was forbidden to contact her old family and friends, and her messages were intercepted. It was more of a prison than an envious life. She felt more freedom in the earth kingdom than at the royal palace.

Wash walked up a hill, sniper rifle in his hand. He looked thru the scope, and saw the fur for miles on end. That was an easy trail for anyone to pick up. And if someone saw him and Ursa get on the bison…

Wash turned around, and ran back towards the campsite at full tilt. As he ran, memories filled his mind.

 _Give me the Epsilon unit._

 _AGHHHHHHHH!_

 _Church, there's no such thing as ghosts. You're the Alpha._

Putting the unpleasant memories away, Wash arrived back at camp, seeing the kids sleeping. With his night vision active, he walked towards Ursa, as she lays against Appa.

"Can't sleep?" Wash asked.

Ursa sighed and looked at Wash.

"Can't sleep." Ursa said.

"Something's on your mind." Wash said.

"The situation I'm in. I was in the royal palace, with everything at my disposal. And now..." Ursa said.

"Now you're here. It's funny what can happen to us." Wash said, remembering he was in project freelancer, with the most advanced equipment and tech the humans had. Now, he was stuck on some backwater planet.

"Funny?" Ursa asked, with traces of anger in her voice.

"Ironic." Wash said.

"Yeah. Ironic." Ursa bitterly said.

"Ursa, you're from the Fire Nation, aren't you?" Wash asked.

"Yes. Please, don't tell anyone." Ursa pleaded.

"I won't. Why did you leave?" Wash asked.

"How'd you know I'm from the fire nation?" Ursa asked. She'd taken great measure to hide her past.

"Your eyes are different than anyone else. They're the same eyes on the soldiers I killed. And when Aang mentioned the air-nomad genocide, you were uneasy." Wash said.

"You must have some great training to pick up all that." Ursa said.

"From the best." Wash said.

An awkward silence was between the two.

"I'm not going to prod into your past. If you feel comfortable enough to tell me about it, then you can tell me. If not, keep it silent." Wash said.

"Thanks." Ursa said.

Ura got no sleep that night.

" _You monster!" She yelled at Ozai, who was looking over a map of the earth kingdom._

" _You're going to kill our son!" She says, grabbing Ozai._

" _He's a weakling. Unfit for service in the fire nation, let alone life itself." Ozai growled._

" _I'm ashamed to be your wife." Ursa said._

" _You're not my wife. You're just a pawn." Ozai said, pushing Ursa aside._

" _I'll take them. Zuko and Azula. I'll take them far away from here." Ursa said._

" _Go ahead. The Yu-yan archers will simply kill you three quicker than you can blink." Ozai promised._


	4. Chapter 4 the chase

Ch 4 the chase

"Something's coming." Toph said, waking up.

"What is it?" Aang asked.

"It's an avalanche, but also not an avalanche." Toph said.

"In English, please." Wash said.

"I have no idea what it is." Toph said.

"Should we leave?" Katara asked.

"We should." Ursa firmly said.

Leaving on Appa, they watch a cloud of black smoke following them. Wash looked thru the scope, but was unable to find the smokes' point of origin, as the mountain covered it.

"What is that thing?" Katara asked.

Upon touchdown, Toph jumps down and walks away.

"Well, see you guys in the morning." Toph said.

"Actually, can you help us unload?" Katara asked.

"Really? You need me to help unload Sokka's funky smelling sleeping bag?" Toph asked.

Upon hearing that, Sokka smelled his sleeping bag and fell backwards, passing out from the smell.

"Thank god I'm wearing this." Wash said, tapping a finger on his helmet.

"Yes. Toph, you're part of the group. And that means you help whenever possible. You pitch in." Ursa said, taking Wash's duffle bag.

"Listen. You're not my mother. And I'm carrying my own weight." Toph said, pointing a finger at Ursa.

"That's not the point. Ever since you joined us, you've been nothing but rude and selfish." Katara said.

"What? Listen here, sugar queen. I gave up everything I had so I can teach Aang earthbending. So don't you talk to me about being selfish." Toph said.

"Sugar queen?" Katara asked, when Toph sat on the ground and built a fully encased earth tent, blocking Katara out.

Katara spent the next few minutes kicking the earth tent.

"Should we help?" Aang asked.

"Hey, I'm just enjoying the show." Sokka said.

Ursa sighed and pinched her nose.

"At least it's not as bad as my kids." She muttered.

"What about your kids?" Wash asked, his hearing picking it up.

"Can't get out of this, can I?" Ursa asked.

"I have 4 sisters, and a brother. Now you tell me." Wash said.

Ursa quickly realized that was the agreement between the two, the start of trust.

"Okay. I have a daughter and son. It's been a while since I saw both of them. I hope…" Ursa started, before swallowing.

"I hope they're okay." Ursa said.

"I'M COMPLETLEY CALM!" Katara shouted at Aang.

"Lets try and get some sleep." Wash said.

"That thing is back!" Toph said.

"How far away is it? Maybe we can close our eyes for just a few minutes." Sokka said.

Wash grabbed Sokka and threw him onto Appa's saddle, before running on board as well.

And once more, they were fleeing.

"What is that thing?" Katara asked.

"And how does it keep following us." Toph said.

"I don't know. But I'm gonna make sure we lose them." Aang said.

Flying far, they landed on a flat plateau. Appa dumped his passengers and started to fall asleep.

"Okay. I'm just going to find the softest part of dirt and fall asleep." Sokka said.

"That's good. Because Toph wasn't going to help." Katara said.

Wash sat up and had to make a point.

"Oh shut the fuck up, Katara! Even if Toph did help set up camp, that thing is chasing after us. What's the point of setting up camp if we're forced to retreat again and again? Just get some rest. We'll need it." Wash said, laying down in his armor.

"Any idea who's after us?" Ursa asked.

"Could be Zuko. We haven't seen him since the north pole." Katara said.

Ursa's eyes went wide open.

 _My baby boy! Zuko, what has Ozai done to you? Why are you chasing the avatar? Are you safe?_

"He'll be fine." Wash whispered to Ursa, although he had no idea if Zuko was alive or not, let alone who he was.

"Who's Zuko?" Toph asked.

"Some angry freak with a pony tail who's tracked us all over the world." Sokka said.

Ursa had to giggle at the mention of pony tail. She briefly imagined Zuko with a pony tail.

"What's wrong with pony tails, pony tail?" Katara jokingly asked.

"This is a warrior's wolf tail." Sokka defended.

"Looks like a pitiful attempt of a pony tail." Wash said.

Momo chirped, alerting the group.

"You've got to be kidding me." Wash said.

Wash grabbed his weapons and headed to the slope. Getting on a knee, he aimed his sniper rifle down range, and saw an armored train approaching.

"They're here." Wash said.

Everyone joined abreast to Wash, Ursa grabbing the DMR.

"How do I use this?" She asked.

"Put it on my back. Don't worry about shooting." Wash said.

The train stopped, and three giant lizard animals came out, with their riders on them.

"Azula." Ursa whispered, prompting Wash to briefly look at her, before looking back at her.

 _You should be home at the fire nation. Not on the frontlines._ Ursa thought, as she looked at her daughter.

Azula ran her cold eyes over the group on the higher ground. Noticing that something was wrong, she aimed her fingers and fired a lightning bolt. The lightning bolt hit right in front of Washington.

"What the hell was that?!" Wash asked, as he sat up, having been blown back from the lightning strike.

More lightning strikes were thrown, followed by a torrent of blue fire.

"We should leave, now." Sokka said, putting his boomerang away.

As they left, Toph erected a wall of earth, but Azula blew a good sized hole thru the earth with her lightning.

"Was that lightning?" Wash asked, as he looked down from the saddle.

"Looks like it. I can't believe she can do that." Sokka said.

"I still think we could have fought them." Toph said.

 _With the Meta, you can fight them._ Wash thought.

"Are you crazy? The crazy blue firebending and the knife throwing are bad enough. One of them did something that took away my bending. That's scary." Katara said.

"Chi-blocking." Ursa said, earning looks from the group.

"I've studied some hand to hand. She's a chi-blocker." Ursa said.

Ursa grabbed a piece of cloth and crudely wrote a message on it, and gave it to Wash.

 _Azula, the one who shot lightning at us, is my daughter._

Wash put the paper away, not wanting to tell anyone else. Her secret was safe with him.

The sun came up, and everyone took notice.

"Oh, no. The sun is rising! We've been up all night with no sleep." Sokka said.

"Sokka, we'll be okay." Aang said.

"Are you sur?! I've never went without sleep before! What if I fall asleep and something happens? And something will happen!" Sokka said.

"Boy, he's a few berries short of a full pie." Wash said.

"Every time we land, those girls are there, so we should just keep flying." Katara said.

"We can't keep flying forever." Aang said.

The group started to fall asleep, and Appa fell asleep as well.

"What's going on?!" Toph asked.

"Appa fell asleep!" Aang said.

"Hurry, Aang!" Ursa shouted.

Aang crawled to Appa's head and grabbed an eyelid.

"Wake up, buddy!" he said, pulling the eyelid and let it slap against the eye itself.

Appa woke up and flies into a forest of trees and crashed into the ground, leaving a small trench.

"Appa's exhausted." Aang said.

"We got plenty of distance between us and them. Lets get some sleep." Sokka said. He then awesomely faceplanted on the ground and fell asleep.

"We may have got some sleep, if someone had helped us set up camp!" Katara sourly said.

"What?!" Toph shouted, slamming her fists on the ground, leaving holes in the ground.

"Enough!" Aang said.

"Are you blaming me?" Toph asked.

Ursa looked at the situation and decided to resolve it. She grabbed Wash's DMR battle rifle and squeezed the trigger.

Click.

"Safety's on." Wash said, flipping it off. Ursa pulled the trigger and the gunshot got everyone's attention.

"Both you two, shut up!" She yelled.

Everyone looked at Ursa, and wondered her next move.

"Toph, Katara. Back away 10 paces, and sit down! No talking." She said.

Toph and Katara did just that.

"Thanks. You want to know why they're finding us? Appa is shedding. Look at this." Wash said, grabbing some fur and let the wind carry it away.

"How dare you blame Appa. He saved you and Ursa's life three times already." Aang said.

Wash grabbed and shoved him face first into Appa. After a few seconds, he threw Aang on the ground and watched as he airbended the fur away.

"Yeah. That's fucking hair. Those girls are using that as a trail. We need to forcefully shed Appa of his hair. Then we can stop our attackers." Wash said.

Appa crawled towards the water and sat there as Aang and Katara hosed him down with their waterbending.

"You sure Appa's okay to fly?" Katara asked.

"He'll be fine as long as we leave the saddle. I'll take the hair and lead the tank off course." Aang said.

"There's another option. I'll take the hair and run off. None of you are in any condition to fight those three girls. I can handle them." Wash said.

"You go as far as you can, then head back to us. Don't try and fight them." Aang said, handing Wash the bag filled with hair.

"Wash, a word in private." Ursa said, walking behind a tree.

Wash followed Ursa, and was surprised at her request.

"I want to come with you." Ursa said.

"Are you nuts? They'll kill you. You don't have the endurance or footwear. You won't get 5 miles in that terrain." Wash said.

"Not if you carry me." Ursa said.

"Why are you so dead set on this?" Wash asked.

"She's my daughter. I just want to talk to her. Please, Wash. It's been years since I last saw her." Ursa said.

"Your daughter, tried to kill us." Wash coldly said.

"Wash, just this once. After that, I won't follow you into any other fights." Ursa said.

"Fine. But if it looks like she'll attack you, I put a bullet in her head. End of story." Wash said.

"Deal." Ursa said.

Wash ran on autopilot. Never stopping, never resting. He leaped over a large tree branch and continued without a break. He made sure to stay in the wide open, providing a clear trail for the train.

 _Unknown earth kingdom town_

"This is as far as it goes. You sure you want to stay here?" Wash asked.

"I'm sure." Ursa said.

"Good luck." Wash said.

Wash headed to an empty building and set his sniper rifle on the windowsill. Azula would come. She had to.

A lone lizard appeared, with Azula riding it. She dismounted and walked towards Ursa. Ursa looked at her daughter with trepidation, but didn't run.

"Well, if it isn't dear mother." Ursa bitterly said.

Wash looked thru the scope of his sniper rifle, keeping the crosshairs on Azula.

"Azula, please." Ursa said.

"You're a fool, mother. Coming after me by yourself. Why would you?" Azula asked.

"I want to talk to you. Mother to daughter." Ursa said.

"Talk. I'm not as dumb as Zuzu. You betrayed us, your country. You put Zuko ahead of the fire nation." Azula said.

"I did what I could to protect both of you." Azula said.

"And leaving like a coward was a great way. By the way, you should know something about your precious Zuzu." Ursa said.

"This is about you, Azula. Not Zuko." Azula said.

"Father burned and disowned him. Fitting for such a weakling." Ursa said.

"Zuko isn't weak." Ursa said.

"He is. I see where he got it from. From his dear mommy. You failed to protect him. And I never needed protection, not from you." Azula said.

It was a knife in her heart, to hear her own daughter say that.

"Besides, you consider me a monster. If that's true, then you'll really see the power of a monster." Azula said, as she prepared to strike her mother down.

Ursa quickly glanced at Wash's location, calculating how long it would take to run for cover.

Azula took notice, and fired a strong blue fireball at the crumbling building, setting it in flames. Ursa backed away from Azula, knowing she wouldn't be able to beat her daughter in a fight.

Azula walked forward, blue fireballs in her hand. She was going to relish this moment when…

Quicker than Ursa could blink, Wash came out of nowhere and tackled Azula to the ground.

"Get out of here!" he shouted to Ursa.

Azula opened her mouth and let out a strong blue fire. Wash quickly rolled off Azula and stood up. Azula stood up to face the freelancer.

Azula charged forward and shoots fireball after fireball. Wash dodged the fireballs, and let his armor absorb the ones he couldn't avoid. Azula came close, only to see Wash sidestep her and shove her to the ground.

"This ends now." Azula muttered, as she moved her arms to prepare a lightning strike against Washington.

Out of the blue, a good sized blast of water and air slams into Azula and sends her flying across the street.

"Thanks for the save." Wash said.

Azula gets up and retaliates with firebending. But seeing she's outnumbered, she runs down an alley, only for Toph to appear out of nowhere and knock her aside shifting the earth under her feet.

Azula retaliates with a blast of firebending, and soon finds herself cornered by everyone else.

"Well, look at this. Traitors and enemies working together. I know when I'm beaten. A princess surrender's with honor." Azula said.

Wash wanted to kill Azula right then and there. There was no honor in killing a family member, it was pure madness!

Azula suddenly fires a blue fireball at Ursa, striking her in the chest.

"No!" Wash shouted, and everyone fired at Azula, who blocked their attacks with a large blue sphere of fire. An explosion occurs, and the embers start to burn the remaining buildings to the ground.

Katara kneels next to the unconscious Ursa and bends water on the wound.

"You know what you're doing?" Wash asked.

"I know what I'm doing. We need to get moving, or Azula will finish us off." Katara said.

As they flew towards another location, Wash tightly held Ursa in his arms. He couldn't understand why anyone would attack their own family. But he knew one thing. Azula was a dangerous threat, and she had to stopped, sooner or later.


	5. Chapter 5 secrets and earthbending

Ch 5 secrets and earthbending

 _Zuko, my love. Everything I've done is to protect you. Remember this. No matter what changes, never forget who you are._

Ursa woke up, and felt a sharp pain in her upper torso.

"She's awake." Wash said.

"What… where am I?" Ursa asked.

"Toph and Aang chose this spot to practice their earthbending." Wash said.

"What happened?" Ursa asked, putting a hand on her chest and felt the burnt skin.

"Azula shot you." Wash said.

Ursa sighed as Wash sat her up against him, resting against his armor.

"She was always… complicated." Ursa said.

"Complicated doesn't drive a person to commit matricide. She's psychotic." Wash said.

Ursa looked at Wash, with tears in her eyes. Instead of seeing Wash's face, she saw her own reflection in his visor.

"It's my fault." Ursa said, and fell into his arms, sobbing.

"Ursa, if you were threatened in the fire nation, why didn't you take your kids with you?" Wash asked.

"Because he said we'd be killed if I took them." Ursa sobbed.

"Who?" Wash asked.

Ursa decided to take a chance and talk.

"My husband. He's… he's the firelord." Ursa said.

Wash quickly looked to the left and right to make sure no-one heard what she said.

"Excuse me?" Wash asked.

"Firelord Ozai. He's my former husband. My brother in law was in line for the throne, but his sun, my nephew, Lu Ten, was killed in battle." Ursa said.

"And without an heir…" Wash said.

"Iroh wasn't eligible for the throne. So Ozai said 'give me the throne.' And that's when all hell broke loose." Ursa said.

"Christ. Feudal countries are always at risk of going into civil war. And sometimes, they do." Wash said.

"Ozai didn't get the throne right away. He was to be punished for making such a rash demand." Ursa said.

"You said it was to protect both Zuko and Ursa. And Azula said you betrayed the fire nation, putting Zuko ahead of the country. Can you make anything from that?" Wash asked.

"Yeah. Zuko was to be killed." Ursa said.

"Say what?!" Wash hissed.

"Iroh lost his son, so the punishment was that Ozai should know the pain of losing a son. I couldn't let that happen, so I told Ozai I would take both Azula and Zuko, and leave. Didn't work, so I had one option left." Ursa said.

"I killed the firelord, Azulon, so Ozai could take the throne. And Zuko would be spared." Ursa said.

Wash didn't know what to say. What could he say? As bad as project Freelancer was, what he heard was worse. The director would never do anything like that. Would he?

"I don't know what say. But I promise you. I will do everything I can to end the war. And Ozai, will be dead. I promise you." Wash said, hugging Ursa.

Ursa allowed herself to relax in Washington's embrace. Despite being on the run, and being a high value target, she felt at peace, even with the world collapsing around.

"So Wash, tell me more about yourself." Ursa said.

"Where I came from, The UNSC. We were involved in a 27-year long war with an alien race against the covenant. We won the war, but at a severely high cost. I fought in the war and killed plenty of alien troops." Wash said.

"Aliens?" Ursa asked.

"Yes. Aliens. Near the end of the war, my CO ordered the platoon I was in to attack a heavily defended position. I shot the CO, and the platoon lived to fight another day. But apparently, the value of one CO is far more important than an entire platoon. I was kicked out of the marines, and went to project freelancer." Wash said.

"What is project freelancer?" Ursa asked.

"I can't say much about it. Even though it's gone, I'm still under orders not to reveal classified information." Wash said.

"I understand. You have any family?" Ursa asked.

"I have a brother and 4 sisters. Never really saw them because I was constantly on the frontlines. Had a few friends in project freelancer." Wash said.

"Children? A wife?" Ursa asked.

"No on both accounts. I did have a girlfriend, but long distance relationships never work." Wash said.

As the two chatted away, Ursa had an idea.

"I want to practice hand to hand." Ursa said.

"Sure thing. Stand up." Wash said, as he removed his armor and the upper portion of the black body suit.

Ursa observed Wash's cut figure. Years of hard combat had toned his body to be a killing machine. And he had plenty of scars and what looked like the remains of burns from incendiary weapons.

Ursa struck first, attacking with a flurry of kicks and punches. Wash's high training kicked in, and he easily dodged or blocked Ursa's attacks.

"You fight well. Go for the vulnerable parts. The face, groin, neck- AGHHH!" Wash screamed, as Ursa quickly kicked him in the genitals as hard as she could.

"What? You said go for the groin." Ursa playfully said.

"Good thing I have a high pain tolerance." Wash said.

Suddenly, Aang ran into both of them.

"Guys, Sokka's missing. I need you to help to find him." Aang said.

"How long was he gone?" Ursa asked.

"He was supposed to go hunting." Aang said, watching as Wash grabbed his DMR.

The three headed in a direction and quickly ran into Sokka, who was stuck in the ground up to his neck. Next to him, was a small animal.

"Aang, Ursa, Wash. Thank goodness. You have any meat?" Sokka asked.

"You're stuck down there, and you're concerned about food?" Wash asked, slinging his rifle.

"Hey, I have needs." Sokka said.

Aang tried to pull Sokka out of the hole, but it didn't work.

"Maybe I can airbend you out of there." Aang said, and used a strong air blast. It did nothing more than launch Sokka's weapons into the air and they landed on his head.

"Nice one, Aang. If those weapons were a revolution off, Sokka would be dead." Wash said, grabbing Aang and threw him away from Sokka, anger clearly in his movements.

Wash knelt down, and attempted to break the earth surrounding Sokka.

"Wash, you'll need an earthbender to free Sokka. Aang, do you know earthbending?" Ursa asked.

"No. I can't." Aang said.

"Well, go get Toph." Sokka said.

"That would make it, uncomfortable." Aang said.

"Gee, wouldn't want to make it uncomfortable." Sokka said.

"This whole earthbending thing has me really confused. There's so much pressure. Everyone expects me to get it right away. It really puts me in an awkward position." Aang said.

"Awkward. I think I know the feeling." Sokka said.

"If I try, I fail. And if I don't try, I'll never get it. I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place." Aang said.

"How about that." Sokka said.

A baby sabertooth mooselion came in.

"Aang, meet Foo Foo Cuddlypoops. Foo Foo Cuddlypoops, Aang." Sokka said.

"What kind of a name is that?" Wash asked.

"A strange one." Ursa said.

"What a cute name for a little sabertooth mooselion cub." Aang said, picking it up.

"He looks like nothing like a sabertooth mooselion." Sokka said.

"It's hard to tell before their giant teeth and horns grow in." Aang said.

"If the baby cub is here, than its mother is nearby. And it will not see us as friends." Ursa warned. The charging of a bolt meant that Wash heeded her warning.

"Guys, I think it's mother is here." Wash said, aiming his rifle towards the bushes. The mooselion came out, very angry.

Wash gulped, and realized that his DMR didn't have the punch to kill it. And he wasn't wearing his armor. So the bigger animal can easily tear him to pieces.

"Hey, there... we found your cub!" Aang said, putting the baby cub on the ground.

"See? We've no problem with you! We're friendly." Aang said.

"Aang, shut it. You're not helping. Ursa, run. Me and Aang will fight it." Wash said.

The mother stampeded towards the group. Wash fired his rifle at it, and while the beast grunted in pain, the adrenaline rush it was having gave it plenty of energy. Aang used his airbending to lift the mother inches of Sokka.

"This is really bad! Please, Aang! You have to earthbend me out, there's no other way!" Sokka frantically shouted.

Aang attempts some earthbending moves, but it's clear nothing is happening. The mooselion charges again. Wash aims for the legs and fires. One of the bullets hits it in the thigh, but it doesn't slow it down.

In a move of pure stupidity, Aang jumps onto a rock and starts some dancing move, trying to distract it.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Wash yells, as he slings his rifle and brings out his combat knife.

Aang jumps back and pushes the mooselion away with his airbending.

"Please, don't leave me again." Sokka said, terrified.

"I won't." Aang said.

"Are you sure?" Wash cynically asks, not trusting him.

The mooselion makes one final charge, dripping blood from Wash's shooting. Aang stands his ground, and pushes it back away with a strong airblast.

The dust clears, and light clapping is heard.

"What are you doing here?" Sokka asked.

"Just enjoying the show." Toph said.

"You were here the whole time?" Aang asked.

"Pretty much." Toph said.

"We were all in trouble. You could have gotten Sokka out and saved us!" Aang said.

"I guess it didn't occur to me." Toph said.

Toph tossed a nut on the ground, and raised Aang's staff. She was about to break the nut open when Aang grabs the staff.

"Enough. I want my staff back!" Aang forcefully said.

"Do it now." Toph said.

"Do what?" Aang asked.

"Earthbend, twinkle toes. You stood your ground against a crazy beast, and more importantly, you stood up to me. You've got the stuff." Toph said.

"But…" Aang said.

"Do it!" Toph shouted.

Aang stomps on the ground and pushes his arms forward, causing a boulder to shoot forward into the canyon walls.

"You did it. You're an earthbender." Toph said.

"Well, guess dreams do come true." Wash half cynically said to Ursa, who raised an eyebrow at him.


	6. Chapter 6 the library

Ch 6 the library

The group was in the desert, and Wash wondered why they were wasting time.

"Any idea why we're here?" Wash asked.

"There's something here." Toph said, kneeling on the ground.

"It's a surprise. Don't ruin it." Aang said.

Aang aimed a flute towards the ground and played it. The music brought a groundhog towards the service, and the little animal mimicked the note. Aang then played a small tune, and several groundhogs came up, mimicking the same tune.

"This is great and all, but don't we have more important things to do? We should be making plans." Sokka said.

"We did make plans. We're picking mini-vacations." Toph said.

"There's no time for vacations." Sokka said.

"I'm learning the elements as fast as I can. I practice hard every day with Toph and Katara. I'm been training my arrows off." Aang said.

"Yeah. What's wrong with having a little fun in our downtime?" Katara asked.

"Even if you do master the elements, then what? It's not like we have a map of the fire nation. Should we head west until we reach the firelord's house? I don't think so. We need some intelligence if we're going to win this war." Sokka said.

"That's not going to be possible. The war lasted 100 years, so the fire nation has become really good at hiding their secrets. They must have to last this long." Wash said.

"So you don't think we'll get any intel." Sokka said.

"At the moment, no. And anything you do get a hold off, will be worth nothing." Wash said.

Completely ignoring Wash's warnings, Aang stood up.

"Your turn, Katara." Aang said.

"Okay. The Misty Palms Oasis." Katara said.

"I've been there. It's a pristine natural ice spring. And I usually don't use the word pristine. It's one of nature's wonders." Aang said.

"You were there?" Ursa asked.

"Yes." Aang said.

The group arrived at the Misty Palms Oasis, and saw how rundown it was.

"It must have changed ownership since I left." Aang said, nervously laughing as they went thru the gates.

"I can go for one of those fruit beverages." Sokka said, as they entered the bar.  
"Lets stay together." Ursa said.

Aang accidently bumped into someone, resulting in a dropped drink. Aang simply cleaned the mess with his airbending.

"You're a living relic." The man said.

The group walked stood behind Aang, and Ursa rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"An air nomad, right in front of me." He said.

"Professor Zei, head of anthropology at Ba Sing Se University." He said, grabbing Aang's hand and started to examine in.

"Tell me, which of the air temples do you hail from?" he asked.

"The southern air temple." Aang said, unsure of what was going on. Wash was also weary.

"Oh, splendid. Now tell me, what was the primary agriculture product of your people?" Zei asked.

"Are fruit pies considered agriculture?" Aang asked.

The professor just wrote the answer down.

"So professor. You're an obviously well-traveled guy. Do you have a more current map? Ours is dated." Sokka said.

"Certainly." Zei said. Sokka unrolled the map and looked at it. Toph sat in a chair and put her legs on another chair, cross legged. Aang had a drink in his hand, and sipped from it.

"What, no fire nation? Doesn't any have a map of that place?" Sokka asked.

Ursa rolled her eyes, grabbed Sokka's head and slammed it against the table.

"Didn't you listen to what Wash said? You're not going to get ahold of a fire nation map real quickly. Only the earth kingdom military has it, and I doubt they'll be of help. They've been losing this war for a century. Get your shit together." Ursa said, shoving Sokka off the table.

Ursa headed to the bar and asked for two drinks.

"You okay?" Wash asked.

"No. Paying attention to every detail is how both of us survived for this long. Those kids shouldn't be fighting in the war, because they are not prepared for it." Ursa said.

"You don't seem like the cynical type." Wash off handedly said.

"Any idealism I had were crushed years ago." Ursa said.

"Wash, Ursa. We're leaving." Aang said.

"Where to?" Wash asked.

"We're leaving to find some library brought by a spirit." Sokka said.

"Shit." Ursa said.

"What's the problem?" Wash asked.

"Spirits are not to be trifled with. I don't know a whole lot, but-" Ursa said.

"Hey, we need to move!" Sokka shouted.

Getting on Appa, Wash kept the sandbenders in view as he observed them via sniper rifle.

"Ursa. You said that spirits aren't to be trifled with." Wash said.

"A friend of mine got caught in the spirit world. How, I don't know. But it did change him. And for the better." Ursa said, talking about Iroh.

"Yeah. I was caught in the spirit world. Man, I couldn't use the bathroom for a day." Sokka said.

Wash raised his eyebrow. Sokka was trapped in an unknown dimension, and he chooses to complain about not using the bathroom.

"It shouldn't be this hard to find a library." Aang said, looking at a detailed drawing of the library.

Hours of flying passed, and it wasn't seen.

"Does this library even exist?" Toph asked.

"Some say it doesn't." Zei said.

"Shouldn't you have mentioned that before?" Toph asked.

"Sometimes a myth is just a myth." Wash said, shrugging his shoulder.

The silence was broken by Toph announcing something.

"There it is!" Toph said, pointing in a random direction.

Everyone looked, and saw nothing.

"That's what it will sound like when one of you spots it." Toph said, moving her hand in front of her eyes.

"For all we know, it either doesn't exit, or it's at the very far end of the desert." Wash said.

After a few more minutes, Sokka noticed something.

"Down there. What's that?" Sokka asked.

Landing on the ground, they stood in front of the tower. Ursa looked at the picture and furrowed her eyebrows.

"This has to be it." Ursa said.

"You sure?" Aang asked.

As if to confirm her claim, a wolf appeared and walked up the side of the tower and went inside.

"A knowledge seeker. We must be close!" Zei said.

"No. This the place. It's completely buried." Sokka said.

Zei went hysterical.

"No! My life's ambition is gone! Well, time to start digging." Zei said.

"Get a grip. You won't be digging that structure out anytime soon." Wash said.

Toph walked to the tower and put her hand on it.

"It's fully intact, and it's huge." She said.

"The fox went up that window. I say we go in." Sokka said.

"You sure about that? A spirit brought the library here. It may not be happy to see us humans intrude." Ursa said.

"If the spirit didn't want us inside, why would he keep the library in our world?" Sokka asked.

"I'm warning you. If it looks like trouble will brew, we run. Our lives are more important than whatever fire nation secret is in there." Ursa said.

"Count me out." Toph said.

"You got something against libraries?" Katara asked.

"I've held books before. And they don't do it for me." Toph said.

"Oh. Right." Katara sheepishly said.

"Let me know if they have something you can listen to." Toph said.

Getting into the library was easy. Wash waited until everyone, sans Toph, disappeared inside the library and he followed.

"Man. This is a large place." Wash said, as he slid down the rope, seeing the massive space.

"My word. Those exquisite mosaic handiwork of the tile rendered avion…" Zei said, when he saw some stuffed owl heads.

"That's not something you see every day." Wash dryly said.

A series of rustling noises gave the group reason to hide behind two pillars. Wash held his breath, and waited for something to happen. A giant owl walked over to look at the rope that appeared out of nowhere. Aang looked around the pillar, and Wash shook his head. That boy was very stupid. If Wash was an enemy sniper, he'd be dead.

"I know you're back there." The owl said.

Zei walked away from cover and approached the giant owl.

"I'm professor Zei, head of anthropology of Ba Sing Se."

"You should leave the way you came. Unless you want to be a stuffed head of anthropology."

Zei gripped his throat and backed away. The group walked out from cover and Sokka spoke.

"Are you the spirit who brought the library into the physical world?"

"I am Wan Shi Tong. 'he who knows ten thousand things' And you are obviously humans, who do not belong here." Wan said.

"What do you have against humans?" Aang asked.

"Humans only bother learning things to gain an edge against other humans. Like that firebender who came here, seeking ways to destroy his enemies." The owl said, glowering over Sokka.

"So, who have you come to destroy?"

"What? We're not into that." Sokka said.

"This is the worst attempt of bullshitting. Of all time." Wash said.

So it came to a surprise that Wan Shi Tong allowed them to stay for a limited amount of time. Wash and Ursa walked down an aisle and opened a book.

Ursa looked thru the pages, and saw it was about an ancient belly-dance. With a soft smile, she studied the dances and put the book aside. To Wash's amusement, she actually started to perform some of the movements she read in the book, and threw in a few movements herself.

"You're really good at dancing." Wash said, taking his helmet off.

Ursa smiled and continued her dance. Wash watched as she swayed her hips left and right, twirled on her legs, among other dance moves.

Hearing a noise, Wash peeked around the bookshelf to see Sokka running.

"Sokka, where are you going?" he asked.

"I need to find more about the fire nation's darkest day in history. It could be promising." Sokka replied.

Ura grabbed the book and followed, putting it in Wash's bag when she was close enough. The group ran into dead end, as they saw piles of ash and burned papers.

"Figures. Fire nation comes here, and destroys all the intel." Wash said.

"There's got to be some way to find out what happened." Sokka said.

"You're not going to find it here." Wash replied.

Just then, one of the foxes appeared and motioned for the group to follow him. They follow the animal guide into a large planetarium.

"Sokka, put in the date." Wash said.

Sokka moved the stone tables to the date and pushed the lever to activate the device. The room slightly darkened, reflecting how a person would see the sky and clouds.

"Great. You broke it." Aang said.

"It's not broken. It's a solar eclipse." Sokka said.

"Firebenders lose their power." Ursa said.

"Exactly. That's the darkest day in fire nation history." Sokka said.

Wash quickly put the pieces together and had to make a point they all should know.

"You're taking a big risk with this plan. Solar eclipses only last 12 minutes at the most. Not enough time to blitz past their defenses and kill the head-honcho. And you don't know when the next eclipse will happen. For all we know, it won't occur for the next year. And all of us can't take on the fire nation military by ourselves." Wash said.

"That's why we're heading to Ba Sing Se. We have the avatar with us." Sokka said.

"That's a bullshit plan. It takes more than words and a title to convince the king to send troops from defending the capital city, to attacking another capital city. And that's if they can attack at all." Wash said.

"Mortals are so predictable and such terrible liars. You betrayed my trust. From the beginning, you intended to use this information for evil purposes." Wan said.

"If anyone's evil, it's the fire nation. Look at what they did to your library." Sokka said.

"You think you're the first one to believe their side is justified? Countless others came before you, seeking weapons or plans to destroy their enemies." Wan said.

"We had no choice." Aang begged. "We're just desperate to protect those we love."

"And I'm going to protect what I love." The owl said, flapping his wings.

"That's not good." Ursa said.

Wash felt the building shake and knew they had to leave.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked.

"I'm taking my library back. No-one will ever abuse it again."

"Of course." Wash said, who couldn't help but find some similarity with the director from project freelancer. If he couldn't keep it, he destroyed it.

"He's sinking the building. We got to get out of here." Katara said.

"No shit." Ursa said, and ran towards the opening, but the owl blocked her way.

"You can't leave. You know too much." Wan said.

"Funny. Someone told me the same thing, and I'm still alive." Wash said, bringing his sniper rifle too bare, and shot the owl.

Wan Shi Tong let out a screech as the 14.5mm bullet tore into his neck.

"Run!" Wash shouted.

Everyone ran, and the owl chased after it. Aang sent the spirit over a railing, and ran back with Sokka.

"Where are you going?" Wash asked.

"To find the time of the next eclipse. We'll be behind you." Sokka said.

"God damn it." Wash muttered, and ran after the group.

The owl reappeared and cornered Katara, who pulled out some water to fight the enraged spirit.

"Your waterbending won't do much use here. I've studied northern water tribe, southern water tribe, and swamp bending." The owl said, closing in for the kill.

Wash pulled out a plasma grenade and threw it. The Covenant weapon stuck onto the back of the owl, catching its attention.

"Is it a spider?" the owl asked.

The resulting explosion showed it was not a spider. Wan Shi Tong grabbed his head in pain, as everyone climbed up the rope and made their escape.

Toph let go of the tower as everyone jumped out of the library and into the desert.

"Man. Never thought I'd encounter an angry spirit in my lifetime." Ursa said.

"It's best to be prepared for whatever might happen. Including the completely insane and out of this world." Wash said, standing up.

"Where's Appa?" Aang asked.

Appa was nowhere to be seen.

"How could you let them take Appa? Why didn't you stop them?!" Aang shouted at Toph.

"The library was sinking, and you guys were still inside." Toph said.

"You could have come in to get us. I could have stopped them." Aang said.

"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here. The sandbenders snuck up on me and-"

"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!" Aang shouted.

Wash activated his helmet's microphone system and got their attention.

"That's enough! We need to get of the desert right fucking now! We can't do anything about Appa." Wash said.

Wash was about to open his rucksack when he heard Aang speak.

"I'm going after Appa!" Aang said, and flew away on his glider.

Wash looked thru the scope at Aang and put the rifle down.

"He'll be dead before he finds Appa, let alone leaving the desert." Wash said.


	7. Chapter 7 death valley

Ch 7 Death Valley

Wash looked at the desert, and knew the chances of survival were slim. He had some water with him, but that wouldn't last long. And while he had the advanced armor that regulated his temperature, everyone else didn't have that luxury. If there was one thing project freelancer taught him, is that there is always a solution.

"We better move. We're the only ones who know about the eclipse." Katara said.

"You think if we dig the owl out, he'll give us a ride?" Sokka asked.

"You want to stay here, be my guest." Wash said.

"No, no; walking in the desert and roasting alive is fine by me." Sokka said.

"Jesus Christ." Wash muttered. It was like being with two Private Caboose's at the same time.

…

"Sarge, what happened?" Simmons asked.

"Are we still on a roller coaster?" Caboose asked.

"No, you dumbass. We were on the large ship that was supposed to take us home. But it fucked up on us." Tucker said.

"And stealing that stealth corvette didn't help at all. We crashed on some unknown planet, and the FTL is down. Griff, your fault." Sarge said.

"Up yours, old man." Griff said.

"Me las he arreglado para encontrar la ubicación del transpondedor Agente de Washington 's. Parece que está en la parte oriental del continente en que estamos." Lopez said.

"Thanks for reminding me, Lopez. I do need to wash my armor." Donut said.

"¿Por qué insiste en traducir para mí? Usted no sabe ningún puto español!" Lopze shouted.

"Quit wasting time. Lopez. Our FTL is down. We need to know where we are, and if Agent Washington is still alive." Sarge said.

"Alguien, me mata. Ahora mismo." Lopez said.

Simmons accessed one of the few computers that was still working. Sending a signal, he searched for Agent Washington, and quickly found the freelancer's IFF signal.

"Hey, Sarge. I found him." Simmons said.

"Great. Where is he?" Sarge asked.

"Seems to be walking in the eastern part of the country. We should be able to reach him on foot." Simmons said.

"You mean walk?" Griff asked.

"Griff, all of our vehicles are destroyed, and the Pelicans maybe the only way off the planet. We need to avoid using them unless we're in the direst of situations." Simmons said.

"Yeah. Like right now. We don't know what is out there. It could be some creature that'll kill us." Griff said.

"Some creature that'll kill you? We're walking. Simmons, Lopez. Check out the armory, see what we have." Sarge said.

"Yes, sir." Simmons said.

"Voy a volar a mi mismo con una Granada. Y voy a tomar la Dona conmigo." Lopez said.

…

The group walked for an hour. At the moment, everyone except the agent was doing bad. Dehydration was slowly a threat. Even Washington needed water despite his training. Sokka stopped walking and used the lemur's wings for shade.

Toph walked into Sokka, prompting Sokka to call her out.

"Can't you watch where you're…" Sokka said.

"No." Toph said.

"Come on guys. We have to stick together." Katara said.

"If I sweat any more, I don't think sticking together will be any problem." Sokka said.

Toph shoved Sokka aside.

"Can I have some water?" Katara asked.

"Okay. But we have to conserve it." Katara warned.

"I got some water." Wash said, opening his sack and grabbing a canteen.

"One sip." He said, first handing the canteen to Toph, then Ursa and everyone else.

Ursa observed Washington for a moment. Despite his quick and lethal combat skills, she sensed some gentleness from him. For a moment, she felt a moment of close kinship with the unknown soldier. It seemed that during some part of his life, something terrible happened to him and he was now learning how to trust again. She was in a similar boat with him.

Putting the canteen away, he grabbed his sniper rifle and looked at the sun, trying to figure out their position using time and their shadows.

"Guys, look." Sokka said, pointing to a plant.

"Cactus plant?" Wash asked.

"Oh, god no." Ursa said, knowing the dreaded cactus juice. It was more strong and potent than any alcohol known to man.

Sokka cut a piece of the plant away and started to drink the water, Momo joining him.

"Sokka, you need to quit drinking that, right now." Ursa warned.

"There's water trapped in these." Sokka said, cutting away another portion and drinking the water inside.

"I don't know." Katara said, backing away.

"Suit yourself. It's thirst quenching." Sokka said.

Sokka's eyes then dialated, and Wash knew why Ursa was bemoaning Sokka's fate. It was a hallucinogen of some sort. Sokka quickly shook his head and fell down over himself. He began to speak in a tone that suggested they film it.

"Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya. Nothing's quenchier. It's the quenchiest!" Sokka finished, with a big grin on his face.

Ursa then burst out laughing like a mandman.

"Ursa?" Wash asked, wondering if she was okay.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Ursa said, trying to contain her laugher. It didn't work.

"You've had enough." Wash said, taking the next bowl and dumping the drink on the ground.

"Who lit Toph on fire?" Sokka saked.

Wash face-palmed himself. Something was wrong with that kid.

"Can I have some?" Toph asked.

"No." Ursa firmly said.

"We need to find Aang." Katara said, walking forward while dragging Toph behind her.

"How did we get out here in the middle of the ocean?" Sokka asked.

Wash only clenched his fists in annoyance. This was pushing his him. He was not a babysitter, and working with the red and blues, was not a qualification.

The sound of a sonic boom got their attention, followed by a quick storm of flying sand.

"What is that?" Katara asked, turning around.

"What is what?" Toph asked.

Wash turned around, and saw a giant mushroom cloud. For a second, he wondered if a nuclear bomb was detonated, then realized that if that was the case, he and everyone else would be dead at that very second.

"It's a giant mushroom. Maybe it's friendly!" Sokka shouted, still under the effects.

"Still having an acid trip." Wash said.

"Acid trip?" Ursa asked.

"There's a drug named LSD. It's also called acid. And this (hitches thumb towards Sokka) is the result. Always." Wash said.

"That makes sense." Ursa said.

After another hour, the group rested as night came and took another drink of water. Wash was impressed. Other than Sokka's acid trip, the group managed to keep moving. He had respect for those who rose to the occasion. Looking up, he saw Aang return with the same sour face he had.

"I'm sorry, Aang." Katara said.

Katara reached to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Aang pulled away.

"What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa. We all know it." Aang said.

"We can if we stick together. Toph, any ideas?" Ursa asked.

"As far as I can feel, we're in a giant sand pudding. I got nothing." Toph said.

"Sokka?" Katara asked.

"Why don't we ask the circle birds?" Sokka asked, pointing upward to four buzzard wasps above them.

Wash quickly aimed his DMR and pulled the trigger four times. Four dead buzzard wasps fell to the earth, and Wash approached them with his knife in hand.

"Dinner." He said, as he proceeded to cut them up.

With the four birds cut into equal portions, the group ate.

"Eat every little bit. Might be the only bit of food we have until we leave the desert." Wash said.

"Thanks, Wash." Ursa said.

"Thanks the guys who made this." Wash said, holding his DMR.

"Well, I thank them." Ursa replied.

"And they are welcome." Wash playfully said.

"Everyone, get up. We're leaving this desert." Ursa said, commanding the group as if they were here children.

Ursa took point, with Wash slight behind her to the left. Everyone else followed in a line.

"How are you holding up?" Wash asked.

"Not too good." Ursa admitted.

Looking over his shoulder, he saw the fatigue everyone else was in. They needed to rest, and soon.

"I think we should stop for the night." Ursa said.

The kids gladly collapsed on the ground, relishing the rest.

"Any more water?" Toph asked.

"I have some left." Katara said, opening her pouch and brought the water out via bending. And Momo leaped right thru the water, collapsing it to the ground.

"Momo! You killed us all!" Sokka shrieked.

"No he didn't." Katara said.

"Oh right. Bending." Sokka said.

"And I still have one canteen." Wash said.

"Sokka, let me see the things you got from the library."

Sokka backed away before rambling.

"I didn't steal anything. Who told you that?" Sokka asked, before rounding up on the lemur. "It was you. You ratted me out!"

"Sokka, I was there." Katara pointed out.

"You have a plan?" Wash asked.

"Yeah. Use the star charts to build a map out of here." Katara said.

"Good plan. Who takes first watch?" Wash asked, earning a quizzical look from Katara.

"In the military, when soldiers sleep in an open field, one will stay up to prevent any threats from attacking themselves." Wash explained.

"I guess I'm taking first watch. And we're traveling by night." Katara said.

"Okay. Wake us up when we move." Wash said.

"It doesn't matter. None of those will tell us where Appa is." Aang dejectedly said.

Wash rolled his eyes in disgust. They could be dead by the morning, and Aang was still complaining about Appa. Well shit happens, and you just had to deal with it.

"No. But we can find out which way Ba Sing Se is. We'll use the stars to guide us. That way we can travel at night, when it's cool and rest during the day." Katara said.

Katara looked at her friends, and saw that they were in no condition to walk.

"Get some rest." She said.

Wash quickly snapped awake when Katara gently nudged his armor. He was a light sleeper.

"We're moving."

Sokka got up with an idiotic smile on his face, and Toph smacked her lips together.

"Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud. Now it tastes like sand. Never thought I'd miss the taste of mud." She said.

"And you can also get some water out of mud." Wash put in.

Katara went to Aang and barely touched him when he spoke.

"I'm awake. I couldn't sleep." He said.

Katara and Aang looked up, and Aang's mood suddenly brightened.

"Appa!" He shouted.

Wash looked up, and saw a cloud.

"It's just a cloud." Katara said, when she realized something.

"Fly up there and bend water into this pouch." She said.

Aang gave Katara an angry look and flew up towards the cloud. After three passes, he landed back and gave the pouch to Katara.

"Wow. Nothing in here."

Aang then blew up.

"I was a desert could. I did everything I could. What's anyone else doing? What are you doing?" Aang shouted, pointing his staff at Katara.

"We're trying to stay alive. You? You just left us in the desert to roast and die. You need to get your shit together right now." Wash said.

The group walked silently through the desert until Toph tripped and landed on her face. Everyone, sans Sokka and Momo, looked at Katara, while the other two looked at the sky.

"I am sick of not feeling where I'm going! And who's the idiot that left a boat in the middle of the desert?" Toph angrily asked.

"A boat?" Katara asked.

"Trust me. I felt plenty of vibrations to feel it." Toph said.

Aang approached Katara and raised his staff. She moved out of the way and let Aang blow the dirt away, revealing a sand sailor.

"It's one of the sand gliders the sand benders use!" Katara exclaimed. "It's got a compass. We're going to make it."

"Sounds better than our previous option." Wash said.

With everyone onboard, they followed the compass's direction which was fixed to one position.

"The needle on this compass doesn't seem to be pointing north to my charts." Katara said, holding a map over the compass.

"Must be a strong magnetic pull close to us. We're too far away from the north pole." Wash said.

Over the horizon, a large rock like structure was coming into view.

"That's our magnetic pull. That rock" Wash said.

"A rock?! Lets go." Toph excitingly said.

"Maybe we can find some water there." Katara said.

"Maybe we can find some sand benders." Aang coldly said.

Dawn came, and the group arrived at the rock mountain. Toph fell on her back and made a rock angel. After she finished, they moved to investigate the cave system.

"I think my head is clearing up from the cactus juice. And look!" Sokka said, when he noticed something gooey hanging from the wall.

"This should be interesting." Ursa said, a smug grin on her face.

And interesting it was, as Sokka began to spit out the substance.

"Taste like rotten penguin meat!" Sokka said.

"And how would you know what rotten penguin meat taste like?" Ursa asked.

"Good point." Wash said.

"You've been hallucinating on cactus juice this whole time. And you just decide to eat something off the wall?" Katara asked.

"I happen to have a natural curiosity." Sokka said.

"More like brain-dead curiosity." Wash deadpanned.

"Guys, I don't think this is a natural cave." Toph said.

"Yeah. Look at the shape." Aang added.

Wash unslung his DMR, and gave an order no-one refused.

"Get out now!" He shouted.

A thick buzzing noise was heard, reminding Wash of the large insect like aliens the covenant used, called 'buggers' by UNSC forces.

The first buzzard wasp showed up and had its head blown off by a single shot. More wasps showed up, and Wash continued to kill them.

Running outside, Wash saw Sokka swing his machete at thin air.

"Sokka, nothing's there." Katara said.

"I guess my head isn't as cleared as I thought." He said.

"No kidding. Head down the mountain." Wash said.

"Momo!" Aang shouted, as a buzzard wasp grabbed the lemur and took off. Aang opened his glider and chased after both animals.

"Ursa, take this." Wash said, handing her his DMR, and pulling out his pistol.

The buzzard wasps continued to close in, and the group continued to fight them. Dozens of angry buzzard wasps closed in on the hapless group, when a series of dust tornadoes rose up and drove away the wasps.

Running down the mountain, a group of sandbenders was waiting for them. Aang landed between both groups, and was ready for a fight.

"What are you doing in our land with another sand sailor? From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe." The leader said.

"We found the sailor in the desert. We're traveling with the avatar. Our bison was stolen and we need to get to Ba Sing Se."

A young man to the leader's right stepped forward and spoke in an aggressive tone.

"You accuse our people of theft, while you ride in on a stolen sand sailor?" he asked.

"Quiet Ghasiun, they didn't accuse us of anything. If what they said is true, we must provide hospitality." The leader reprimanded.

"Sorry, father." Ghaisun said.

"That voice. I remember it. He's the one who stole Appa." Toph said.

"You sure?" Ursa asked.

"I never forget a voice." Toph said.

Not surprisingly, Toph's confirmations set Aang off.

"You stole Appa! Where is he?!" Aang shouted.

"They're lying! They're the thieves!" Ghasiun said.

Aang slammed his staff on the ground sending a razor sharp blade of earth that destroyed another sailor.

"Where's my bison? Tell me where he is now!" Aang demanded.

To make his point, Aang destroys another sailor.

"What did you do?" the leader asks his son.

"It wasn't me." The son claimed.

"You said to muzzle him." Toph said.

"You muzzled Appa?" Aang asked, his anger tipping.

Eyes and tattoes glowing, he destroyed the last sailor and threatened the son.

"Tell me where Appa is!"

"I traded him to some merchants. He's probably in Ba Sing Se right now. They were going to sell him there."

Dropping his staff, Aang lifted up in a ball of air. Wash looked upwards, and wondered what would happen next.

"Just run!" Sokka shouted, taking Toph and running away.

Wash heeded his advice, and ran with everyone else. Looking back, he saw Katara approach Aang at risk to herself.

"My god. Katara! Run!" Wash shouted.

Katara didn't run, but grabbed Aang's hand. The Avatar's outraged expression met her face of sympathy and exhaustion. Lowering himself to the ground, Katara embraced Aang until he left the avatar state and collapsed in her arms.

"What the fuck was that?!" Wash asked.

"It's a long story." Sokka said.

"Start talking." Wash curtly said.


	8. Chapter 8 reds and blues

Ch 8 reds and blues

The night was quiet. After leaving the desert, they camped next to a small pond. Wash woke up and walked to the water. Taking his helmet off, he observed his face via helmet visor. Noting he had some facial hair he felt it with his gloved hand. Pulling out his knife, he put it to his hair when he heard some leaves rustling.

Grabbing his DMR, he waited for anything to appear. Ursa gasped and took a step back. Wash put his rifle aside and motioned for Ursa to come forward.

"It's alright." Wash said, sitting down.

"I wish it was." Ursa said, sitting down next to Wash. She removed her shoes and put her feet in the water.

"Can't sleep?" Wash asked.

"No. Haven't been able to for the past couple days." Ursa said.

"What's on your mind?" Wash asked.

"Everything. The banishment, years on the run, Azula, and now this." Ursa said.

"We can't choose our situations, but we can choose how to respond to it. Cliché, but it's so damn true. Something I've learned from the human covenant war, and project freelancer is that we shouldn't hold onto the past. We let it go." Wash said.

"Easier said than done." Ursa said.

"You're right about that." Wash said.

Wash brought his knife to his hair again.

"What are you doing?" Ursa asked.

"Shaving." Wash said.

"Your right hand is shaking. How about you let me shave?" Ursa asked.

"Sure thing." Wash said.

Laying back, Wash felt water dumped on his head as Ursa filled his helmet with water and chucked it at him. Straddling the freelancer, Ursa carefully moved the blade upward and scrapped away the hair. With the hair now gone, she got a new look at the agent. His face was handsome, with a few scars from combat. But his eyes got her attention. They were a hard cold blue, veteran of years of intense combat. She wondered what those eyes saw, day after day. Things that honed Washington's high reflexes.

And yet part of her shirked away from knowing. Some things were just better left untouched.

"I'm worried about you as well." Ursa said, finishing the shave.

"What about me?" Wash asked.

"You're quiet and reserved. And it seems like you're carrying a painful past with you." Ursa said.

"That makes two of us. We haven't told everyone else about everything about us. Perhaps it's the best." Wash said.

Ursa began to take her clothes off, much to Wash's surprise.

"Ursa?" Wash asked.

"I'm taking a bath." She said.

"I'll leave you alone, then." Wash said.

"Actually, I prefer if you stay. If Azula attacks, I'm dead." Ursa said.

Wash sat down and tinkered with the scope on his sniper rifle. Scanning the lake, he observed how the scope easily penetrated the water with its advanced IRST system. Seeing something, he swung back and cleaned up the image. He saw a… human leg. Bringing the scope up and reversing the dial, he saw Ursa fully nude, although over half her body was in the water. He couldn't help but thank the UNSC and Project Freelancer for the advanced scope.

"Wow. Ozai was a complete… something to ditch her." Wash said, as he ogled Ursa.

"Hey, Wash. What are you doing?" Aang asked.

Wash's reflexes kicked and he twirled around standing up, aiming his rifle at Aang.

"What are you doing here?" Wash asked.

"Came to check up on you and Ursa. You left this early morning." Aang said.

"Well, I'm fine." Wash curtly said, wanting Aang to leave.

"Okay. Where's Ursa?" Aang asked.

"She's taking a bath. And she's asked me to stay for protection. Not you." Wash curtly said.

Aang left, and Ursa walked out of the water.

"You don't like Aang, don't you?" Ursa asked, as she dried herself.

"Not at the moment. Yes, were in a difficult situation, but he handled it the wrong way. If it wasn't for Katara, we'd all be dead." Wash said. _And the last person I met who did such a thing, I killed._ Wash thought, but didn't add.

Wash heard some static and pressed the side of his helmet.

"This is Agent Washington. Who's there?" Wash asked.

"Washington! It's great to hear your voice again! Now we can be friends again!" Caboose shouted over the intercom.

"Hello, Caboose." Wash said, in a highly depressed tone.

"Wash, we have your location. Don't move. We'll be here to rescue you." Sarge said.

"Thanks, Sarge. But I'm in a complicated situation here." Wash said, glancing at Ursa.

"How complicated?" Sarge asked.

"It's best if we talk face to face." Wash replied.

Wash stood watch while the children, and Ursa, played by the lake. He watched as Ursa jumped off a cliff into the water, followed by Katara who shouted "Water-bending bomb!"

Sokk and Toph were drenched, and Sokka complained about it.

"Great. Water on 5,000-year-old maps from the spirit world. Just great." Sokka said.

"Sorry." Katara said, bending the water out.

"So, did you figure out what route we're taking?" Aang asked.

"We just got out of the desert, so we must be around here." Sokka said. "And we need to get to Ba Sing Se which is here. It seems like the only passage is the serpents pass."

"You sure about that?" Toph asked.

"It's the only way. It's not like we have Appa." Sokka said.

"Shush about Appa. Can't you at least try to be sensitive?" Katara hissed.

"Katara, it's okay. I know I was upset, but I just want to focus on getting to Ba Sing Se." Aang said.

Wash didn't believe Aang. He decided to keep an eye on him for the time being.

"Then to Ba Sing Se we go. No more distractions." Sokka said.

"Knock on wood." Wash replied, earning a look from Ursa.

"Hello there, fellow refugees." A man said, walking towards the group.

"Told ya." Wash said.

"So you guys are heading to Ba Sing Se?" Aang asked.

"Sure are. We're trying to get there before my wife, Ying has her baby." The man said.

"Great. We can take the serpents pass." Katara said.

"Only the desperate take that deadly route." Ying said.

"Deadly route. Great pick, Sokka." Toph said, punching Sokka in the arm.

"We are desperate." Sokka said.

Wash saw a sizable group of contacts heading towards them, and upon looking he saw the group he somewhat dreaded to meet again.

"Ursa, come here." He said.

"Who are they?" Ursa asked.

"See the one with the aqua armor? Shoot him if he tried to hit on you." Wash said, shoving the DMR in her chest.

Wash walked forward and met with Sarge.

"Nice to meet you, Washington." Sarge said.

"You to, Sarge. Let me catch you up to speed. The planet you crashed on, is nearing the end of a hundred-year war. Fire nation is attempting to conquer the earth kingdom, and the northern and southern water tribes. I've been helping this group fight back against the fire nation. Recently, we've uncovered valuable intel that could end the war. We're heading to the earth kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se." Wash said.

"Wash, this isn't your war. We came to rescue you. Or we would have, but Griff fucked up the landing. Thanks to that, the FTL drive is damaged and we only have one Pelican operational." Sarge said.

"Well, I guess you're stuck here like me. And I'm helping them fight." Wash said.

"Wash, this is stupid. I hope you know that. None of us, are in any condition to fight a war." Tucker said.

"I've fought against the fire nation. Their weapons are thousands of years old. Swords and spears. Something like before the middle ages. Although, they can manipulate fire itself, and use it as a weapon. But our armor was built to handle Covenant plasma weaponry, so fire is no threat." Wash said.

"I don't know, Wash. Today's Tuesday and a holiday, that's time and a half." Caboose said.

"What?" Wash asked.

"Yeah. I get paid by the hour." Caboose said.

"Listen, just help me escort them to Ba Sing Se, and then we can talk." Wash said.

"Okay. Maybe you can escort me to your lady friend." Tucker said.

"Who?" Wash asked.

"The one wearing the red. Man, she's hot." Tucker said, eyes on Ursa.

"Yeah. She is." Wash muttered under his breath.

"Great. So you can introduce me to her." Tucker said.

"No." Wash said.

"Come on, Wash." Tucker said.

"She already has a boyfriend. Me." Wash quickly said.

"You?" Tucker asked.

"Wow. How'd you do that?" Donut asked.

"En realidad no es su novia. Él simplemente no confía en Tucker en absoluto." Lopez said.

"Lopez, I don't speak Spanish. I will never speak Spanish." Griff said.

"Get with the times. Assimilate." Simmons said.

"Guay. Estoy envenenando tanto sus próximas comidas." Lopez responded.

…

"Wow. I can't believe how many people's lives were uprooted by the fire nation." Katara said.

The large group walked into a large cavern, seeing hundreds of refugees, trying to keep one step ahead of the war.

"100 years of war. What'd you expect?" Sarge asked.

"I already told you. No vegetables allowed! One cabbage slug could destroy the entire ecosystem of Ba Sing Se! Security!"

Moments later, a platypus bear destroyed the cart.

"My cabbages!" the man shouted.

"Next!" the ticket lady shouted.

"My god. What is that?" Griff asked.

"Some sort of hybrid between a platypus and a bear." Simmons said.

"Simmons, it's some strange animal created in a laboratory. We need to capture it, and make it the mascot of red team." Sarge said.

Ursa simply palmed her head in frustration. Already, she was annoyed by the reds and blues. And she spent only an hour with them. Wash must have spent years among them. That probably explained everything about him.

"Four tickets to Ba Sing Se." Aang said.

"Passports?" the ticket lady asked.

"No-one said we needed to have passports." Aang said.

"You better let us through! Or I'll unleash my brand of red-team justice!" Sarge shouted, pumping the rack on his shotgun.

Wash unslung his sniper rifle and socked Sarge in the stomach with the rifle butt.

"Dirty blue." Sarge muttered, trying to breath.

"Wash, a word." Ursa said.

"What is it?" Wash asked, as he and Ursa were away from the group.

"How long have you fought alongside those… soldiers?" Ursa asked.

"You don't want to know." Wash said.

"That bad?" Ursa asked.

"That bad." Wash said, giving Ursa his DMR and ammunition.

Toph tried her hand, and got the tickets.

"Alright. We scammed that lady good." Sokka said.

Just when things were looking up, the other foot came down.

"Avatar Aang, you have to help us! Someone took our passports and tickets!" Ying cried.

Aang tried to help them, but the ticket lady was unsympathetic.

"Well, that leaves the serpents pass." Wash said.

"Serpents pass?" Griff asked.

"There's a giant serpent? Maybe it can kill Griff." Sarge said.

"Ursa, if I tell you to kill me, kill me." Wash said.

"How about no." Ursa replied.

…

Washington walked with everyone else as they left the caves and headed to the serpents pass. They were joined by a girl named Suki. She was a member of a group called the Kyoshi warriors. Although in the eyes of Washington and the red and blues, she didn't look prepared for combat at all. The group stopped at an 'H' archway and noticed writing. 'Abandon Hope'

"How can we abandon hope? It's the only thing we have left." Ying said.

"My hope is that there's food at the end of this climb." Griff said.

"Forget it." Wash said, walking forward with team avatar.

"Where are you going, Wash?" Tucker asked.

Wash didn't respond, but continued onto the serpents pass. Unwilling to leave a teammate behind, the blood gulch crew followed.

"The fire nation controls the western lake. Rumor has it that they're working on something on the other side, and they don't want anyone to know it." Suki said.

"And no-one will find it. If you want to keep something hidden, you'll do anything to keep it hidden." Wash said.

Wash knew her words were prophetic. If the earth kingdom did catch word of the rumors, they probably did many recon missions, maybe a few strikes. If no-one managed to stop this new superweapon, that could be disastrous for Ba Sing Se. Looking to his left, he saw a fire nation cruiser.

"Everyone, out of sight right now." Wash said, hutting the walls. However, murphy's law was against them, as part of the cliff face almost gave away. Toph was able to prevent one of the travelers from falling to his death. And the fire nation cruiser saw it, and started to shoot at them.

"Get down!" Wash shouted, pushing Ursa to the ground and covering her form with his. The fireball slammed into the rockface above them, raining debris.

"On the count of three!" Wash shouted.

"One, two, three." Ursa said.

Both broke from their position and ran, followed by the simulation troopers and their passengers. Aang flew back on his glider, after throwing a fireball back at the fire nation ship.

"My life has taken a very interesting turn." Wash said.

"That can be said for everyone." Ursa replied.

Night came, and the motley group of soldiers and civilians made camp. Wash rested against a piece of earth, and grabbed a chocolate bar from his sack and started to eat it.

"Mind if I join?" Ursa asked.

"Sure thing." Wash said.

Ursa sat down, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Wash? What happens next?" Ursa asked.

"About what?" Wash asked.

"You, your… soldiers. This war." Ursa said.

"I don't know. But for starters, me and my friends aren't going anywhere. We can't leave this planet any time soon. So we'll stay and help you guys in the war. At least I will." Wash said.

"At least I will?" Ursa asked.

"We've been through a lot. Remember what I said about project freelancer?" Wash asked.

"A secret operations group." Ursa said.

"Yes. They manipulated and tortured us. Took us from our friends and families. And did horrible things to us." Wash said, clearly remembering the Alpha. The Meta, the other agents.

"So they may not want to help in the war." Ursa said.

"I don't blame them. There's only one reason I'm staying to fight." Wash said.

The silence was broken by Lopez ranting angrily in Spanish. Which no-one understood.

"I think all of you guys need some rest." Ursa said.

"We need to be put in an asylum." Wash said.

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?" Ursa asked.

"If you'd been in our shoes, you'd come to the same conclusion." Wash replied.

On the next day, things were going well until they reached a divide in the water. Katara was able to fix the problem by performing a small version of the biblical feet of dividing the red sea. With Aang's help, an air bubble was created for the group to travel through. It all went smoothly, until Momo dived into the water to chase after a fish. The lemur came face to face with a giant sea serpent.

The serpent chased after Momo and broke the air bubble. Toph quickly reacted by bringing the group above sea level, saving their lives.

"Oh my god!" Griff shouted.

"Man, that should be the new mascot for red team. A giant angry serpent creature. But it has green skin. You traitor!" Sarge shouted, aiming his shotgun at the serpent.

"Oh mighty and powerful serpent, please accept this tasty and humble offering. Thank you." Sokka said, holding Momo in front of him.

"And you can also eat Griff!" Sarge added.

"Don't move! Its vision is based on movement!" Simmosn said.

Wash and Ursa quickly faced each other, weapons pointed at each other.

"It's turning us against each other!" Caboose shouted.

"Idiota. se trata de un pacto de suicidio entre los dos de ellos." Lopze said.

The serpent dove forward, only for Aang to knock it off course with his airbending.

"Katara, get everyone across." Aang said, lifting off on his glider to deal with the serpent. Katara quickly made an ice bridge, and everyone ran across. Ursa grabbed Toph and ran across the bridge. The serpent then broke the bridge with a swipe of its tail.

"Thank god for that. I thought I was going to die back there." Griff said, heavily breathing.

"You only ran that small amount of distance. Are you that out of shape?" Ursa asked, setting Toph down.

"He eats ten meals a day." Simmons said.

Ursa quickly gave up trying to understand the simulation troopers. Aang and Katara used their waterbending to create a maelstrom and threw the serpent against the cliff, knocking it out.

"I hope that's the last of our problems, but knowing the company we're in, something is bound to fuck us over." Wash said.

Ying groaned in pain and clutched her stomach.

"I knew it." Wash said, knowing she was going into labor.

"What's wrong?" Sokka asked.

"She's going into labor." Wash said.

"Can't you hold it in?" Sokka asked.

"Wow. We found someone more stupid than Caboose." Tucker said.

"And that's saying something." Sarge said.

"Sokka, calm down. It's a baby. And I helped gran-gran deliver plenty of those." Katara said.

"This isn't the same as delivering an artic seal. It's a real human thing!" Sokka said.

"And people have kids all the time. Not something to be losing your shit about. Unless you're the mother. Then you can bitch about it." Wash said.

Everyone waited outside as Ying had her baby. Sokka came in with the water, and came in at the same moment when the baby came out. He promptly passed out.

"It's a girl." Katara said.

Wash looked inside and saw the family, plus Katara and Toph, looking at the newborn child.

"It's a miracle." Wash said.

"What should we name her?" the husband asked.

"I want our daughter's name to mean something." Ying said.

At that moment, Aang spoke up.

"I've been going thru a really hard time lately. But you've given me hope again." Aang said.

"I know what I want to name our baby. Hope." Ying said.

"That's a perfect name. Hope." The father said.

Ursa peeked inside and grinned. Maybe there was a chance, although small, that her family could resolve their differences and be together.

"If not, I can start a new family with Wash." She muttered.

"Wait. What?" Wash asked, having heard her.

"Oh. You heard." Ursa said.

"Awkward silence." Caboose said, interrupting the two.


	9. Chapter 9

Ch 9 the drill

"So, you want to talk about it?" Wash asked.

"Lets wait until we're in Ba Sing Se." Ursa said.

Approaching the wall, they saw Aang return.

"Aang, I thought you were looking for Appa." Katara said.

"I was. But I saw something. Something big." Aang said.

"If you want to see something big-" Donut put in.

"Donut!" Simmons said, cutting him off.

"What exactly did you see?" Wash asked.

"That." Aang said, as he and Toph improvised an elevator to bring everyone to the top of the wall.

In view, was a large fire nation drill, escorted by a dozen tanks. At the sight of this monster and its escorts, Ying cried aloud in despair as she huddled with her family.

"We're in Ba Sing Se, and we're still not safe. No one is!"

"How are we going to stop that thing? And we as in, everyone except me?" Griff asked.

"I say we get in there, and tear that thing apart from the inside out." Sarge said, loading his shotgun.

Wash observed the drill, and noted the size and thickness. Sarge was right for once. Sarge was right for once?!

"It's the end of the world as we know it." Wash muttered.

"What are you doing here? Civilians aren't allowed on the wall." A soldier said.

"We need to speak with your leader. We can help stop the drill." Wash said.

The soldier nodded, knowing they needed all the help they could get.

Sitting behind a desk, was the general who appeared too confident for his own good.

"It is an honor to meet you, Avatar. But your help is not needed." He said.

"Not needed?" Aang asked.

"Not needed." The general said.

"All I see here is giant slabs of stone. Not what I'd take to destroy the giant drill heading towards us." Sarge said.

"I have the situation under control. I assure you, the fire nation can't break through this wall. Many have tried, but all have failed."

"You know general, since the fire nation hasn't been able to break through the wall, they'll just think out of the box until they make something like that drill. And if that doesn't work-" Simmons started.

"They might start throwing dead and diseased bodies over the wall the poison the city. How do you think I took over that massive blue base by myself?" Sarge asked.

"I wish I was there, sir." Simmons said.

"You just poisoned me, and threw me over the wall. And I simply walked out, because the base was deserted for months." Griff said.

"Really? I'm remembering things very different." Sarge said.

"Can we focus on stopping that drill?" Ursa asked.

"Don't worry. To stop it, I sent a special platoon of earthbenders, called the terra team." The general answered.

"5 bucks says they get their asses owned." Wash said.

"I only have one dollar. I'll need to play the lottery again." Caboose said.

"Again? You spent all your money on the lottery. No wonder you're broke." Tucker said.

The terra team's efforts started by flipping over a steam fire nation tank. When they came close to the drill, they lodged large stone spikes to stop the drill from moving. But the machine continued moving forward, making their efforts useless. The soldiers quickly put up a wall of earth, as knives were sent in their way.

"Great." Wash muttered, looking thru his scope.

"What?" Ursa asked.  
"Take a look." Wash said.

Ursa looked thru the scope and saw Ty Lee and Mai easily take down the earth kingdom soldiers. While the soldiers were initially distracted by Mai's knife attacks, Ty Lee appeared from of nowhere, and easily defeated the soldiers by a series of nerve attacks.

"We're doomed!" the general hysterically shouted.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Sokka shouted, slapping him.

"Now would you like our help?" Toph asked.

"Yes, please." The general humbly said.

"So how are we gonna take that thing out?" Aang asked, and his group looked at Sokka.

"Why are you guys looking at me?" Sokka asked.

"You're the idea guy." Aang pointed out.

"So I'm the one who has to come up with the plans? That's a lot of pressure." Sokka complained.

"You're also the complaining guy." Katara said.

"That part I don't mind." Sokka said.

Meanwhile, Wash was loading up on spare ammunition, deciding to take down the drill by himself. Knowing that secrecy was the key to success, he decided not to take any of the red and blues. They would just fuck things up.

"Hey, Wash." Ursa said, watching the freelancer turn around to face her.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Be careful, and good hunting." Ursa said.

"Thanks." Wash said.

Rappelling down the wall, Wash ran towards the drill as fast as they could. To his left, he saw a cloud of smoke appear out of nowhere. He saw the earth kingdom soldiers get taken out of the fight, so who was inside the smoke cover…

"Oh no." Wash muttered, knowing that the Avatar and his friends were the ones responsible.

Running underneath the drill, he saw an entrance hatch and climbed the ladder inside the drill.

"Too easy." Wash muttered, unslinging his DMR and put the bayonet on the end.

Walking thru the corridors, he saw two contacts heading his way. Wash quickly hid and waited for them to pass. When they walked past him, Wash quickly moved onto them. He grabbed the one closest to him, and quickly snapped his neck. The second engineer didn't even notice, as a knife went to his neck and quickly cut the skin, killing him.

After hiding the bodies, Wash took the maps and observed them. The maps showed two layers. An outer and an inner layer. Wash put the map away and headed deeper inside the drill. It suddenly occurred to him, that he didn't have any explosives powerful enough. The meant finding team avatar, and hopefully they had a solution to take down the drill.

"What's this we stuff? Me and Aang will have to do all of the work." Katara said.

Wash turned a corner and walked down a gangplank, DMR in hand.

"What are you doing here?" Sokka asked.

"Same as you. Destroy the drill." Wash said.

"You have anything that can stop it?" Katara asked.

"No. Katara and Aang will have to destroy the drill." Wash said.

Katara and Aang worked tirelessly as they cut thru the first brace, eventually wearing themselves out.

"Come on guys. We can…" Sokka said.

Katara quickly stood up, ready to whip Sokka with her water.

"I mean, you got it." Sokka meekly said.

Aang and Katara finished cutting thru the brace and watched it move, only slightly.

"At this rate, we won't do enough damage before the drill makes contact with the wall." Katara said.

A groaning noise is heard, and Sokka voices everyone's thoughts.

"We took it down. We need to get out of here." Sokka said.

"Attention. The drill has made contact with the wall of Ba Sing Se. Start the countdown to victory!" the war minister said.

"Oh fuck." Wash muttered.

Sokka pushed against the brace, not doing anything.

"Are you really that stupid? That brace must weigh more than a ton." Wash said.

"We're putting everything we got into busting these braces." Sokka said.

"Maybe we don't need to. Toph has been teaching me that you shouldn't put all your effort into one thing. You make a series of strikes against your opponent. When they're reeling, you deliver the final blow. His weight becomes his downfall, literally." Aang said.

"So we just need to cut halfway thru the braces." Katara said.

"Then I'll head to the top and deliver the final blow." Aang said.

"Well start cutting." Wash said.

The two waterbenders cut thru brace after brace. Wash monitored their progress, and didn't even register the three contacts that appeared on his motion sensor.

"Now all Aang needs to do is DUCK!" Sokka then shouted, as a blue fireball went over his head.

Wash quickly turned around, DMR trained on the three girls. He saw the same three girls that attacked the group earlier.

 _Wash stood with team avatar, having Azula pinned. She then threw a fireball, and struck Ursa._

" _No!"_

Wash put the memory away, and put the crosshairs on the three girls. Without thinking, he pulled the trigger, sending bullets past the three girls.

"Are you some type of guard dog?" Azula snarked.

"You could say." Wash said.

"After you're dead, dear mother is next." Azula said.

"I'd like to see you try." Wash coldly said.

The sounds of more footsteps was heard, and fire nation soldiers came, the gunshots getting their attention.

"Need any help, princess?" the captain asked.

"Take care of him." Azula said.

"Surrender, and you will-"

A rifleshot blew the back of the soldier's head off, and blood pooled on the floor. Wash went into a familiar trance, where he moved like a killing machine. The soldiers poured in, and Wash continued to hose them down. When his rifle was out of ammo, he pulled out his pistol and killed the last soldiers that challenged him.

Holstering his weapon, he went down the path the avatar went. He heard two voices. One was a dour feminine voice.

"Ugh, disgusting."

Her companion, was a ditsy teenage girl.

"Come on. You heard Azula. We have to follow them!"

"Azula can shoot all the lightning she wants. I'm not going in there." Mai said.

Ty Lee jumped into the moving sewage, and Mai closed the hatch. Wash walked towards Mai when she turned around, but it was too late. Wash grabbed her and with good force shoved her against the wall, knocking her out.

…

At the top of the wall, Ursa and the red and blues watched as the drill went thru the wall with no resistance. And the earth kingdom troops were throwing rocks onto the drill, in the hopes that it would stop it. Moments later, Aang came out from the drill and approached the wall.

"This looks like a good spot, Momo." Aang said, when boulders rained around him.

"General Sung! Tell your soldiers to stop throwing rocks down here!" Aang shouted up.

"Soldiers, whatever you do, don't stop throwing rocks down there!" Sung ordered.

"Man, Griff should be down there, not that kid. Caboose, help me throw Griff over the wall." Sarge said.

"Okay." Caboose said, but didn't move from his spot.

Ursa put the sniper rifle against the wall and went to the general.

"There's a kid down there! Why are you still throwing boulders at him?" Ursa shouted.

"We got everything under control." Sung said.

"Like hell you do." Ursa angrily said, throwing her arms up in disbelief.

Aang continued to cut thru the metal with the water when Momo shrieked, warning him of danger as a fireball went past his head.

"Momo, get out of here!" Aang shouted.

Aang put up a good fight against Azula. Azula continued to shoot precise fire at Aang, destroying the water whip Aang was using against her. The boulders provided an extra boost to Aang's defense, but Azula dodged one and continued her assault. With limited options, Aang build up a wall of earth and fire boulders from the earthen wall. Azula kicked the flying boulders away and sent a powerful blue fireball at the Avatar, sending him against the wall, unconscious.

Just when Azula was about to walk forward, a hail of gunfire riddled the drill around her. Azula back flipped away, and watched as Caboose fired his assault rifle at her.

"Caboose, use your grenades!" Ursa said, seeing a blue ball on his belt.

"Don't let him use a grenade!" Tucker shouted, as Caboose primed a plasma grenade, made the motion to throw it, and it stuck on the wall just in front of him.

"That is the worst throw I ever saw." Tucker said, as he and everyone else backed away.

"Not my fault. Someone put a wall in my way." Caboose said, as the grenade blew, scorching Caboose's armor.

Azula saw the explosion, and fired a lightning bolt at the sim troopers.

"Holy shit! She can throw lightning?" Tucker asked.

Wash broke to the top of the drill and watched as Azula grabbed Aang and pressed him against the wall. He watched as her left hand held a blue fire just above it. Pulling out his pistol, he aimed and pulled the trigger.

Azula held Aang against the wall, intent on scarring him for life. A sharp pain was felt in her hand, and her shoulder. Dropping Aang, she turned around to face Wash, who was still firing at him.

Azula threw a fireball at Wash, only to see him walk right through and in turn, shot her in the leg. Pain racked thru her body, as Azula crawled away from the deadly soldier. She then felt like she was free falling. Aang lifted Azula up with his airbending, and threw her off the drill.

"How are we going to destroy this thing?" Wash asked, when a boulder came down behind Aang.

"That's what I needed for once." Aang said, as he moved the boulder into place, and then cut it into a wedge.

"See you up top." Wash said, as he jumped off the drill.

Aang ran towards the wall and up the side, using his airbending to enhance his movements. When he walked high enough, he turned around and ran down the wall and jumped onto the wedge, forcing it into the drill. Wash watched as the drill seemed to implode on itself. Slurry was pouring out of the broken remains.

"Mission accomplished." Wash said.

The soldiers lifted him to the wall and Wash approached his comrades.

"Agent Washington, that gets the seal of red team approval." Sarge said.

"Thanks, Sarge." Wash said.


	10. Chapter 10 Ba Sing Se

Ch 10 Ba Sing Se

 _Wash walked thru a grass field, sniper rifle in his hand. He heard the sounds of children laughing and found himself looking thru the scope at a schoolyard. Slinging the rifle, he felt compelled through the school and into the boy's bathroom. No-one seemed to notice the heavily armed and armored soldier._

 _Wash noticed a kid approach another kid from behind. The first kid grabbed the second one, and shoved his face into the mirror. He fell to the ground, screaming in pain and horror, as blood pooled out. The first kid turned, and Wash saw his younger self._

" _Why would you do that?!" Wash shouted, grabbing his younger self._

" _To get my revenge. He deserved it." Wash's younger self said._

" _Are you nuts? Revenge?" Wash asked, putting his younger self down._

" _He's not the first one you got your revenge on." Azula's voice said. Wash turned around and pulled the trigger on his pistol. Wash looked down, and saw Azula's body, no-longer moving._

" _Isn't that right, Agent Washington?" her voice coldly said._

"Wake up, Wash." Simmons said.

Wash quickly woke up, his eyes wide opened from the nightmare.

"You okay, buddy?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Wash said, as Sarge pulled him up.

"We're on our way to the inside of Ba Sing Se." Katara said.

"Can't wait to see what the city is like." Tucker said.

"They can be all my friends." Caboose said.

"I hope they got plenty of food." Griff said.

"I'm pretty sure they do have plenty of food, Griff." Simmons said.

"Don't jinx it. We can still be attacked by some giant exploding fire nation spoon. Or find the city's been submerged in an ocean of killer shrimp." Sokka said.

"Have you been hitting the cactus juice again?" Toph asked.

"I'm just saying weird stuff happens to us." Sokka said.

"Join the club." Sarge said.

Toph soon became irritable when the train stopped at the station.

"Back in the city, great." She said.

"What's the problem? This place is amazing!" Sokka said, having a great birds eye view of the city.

"Just a bunch of rules and walls. Just wait. You'll get sick of it in a couple of days." Toph pointedly said.

"So now we find the king and tell him about your top secret information." Tucker said.

"That's the plan, but be prepared for an extended stay." Wash said.

"Lopez, Donut. You two head back to the ship and load up a pelican to the brim with anything deemed essential." Sarge said.

As the two sim troopers left, Wash became aware of another presence. Turning around, he saw a woman standing still, with a very unnatural smile on her face.

"Something's wrong with her." Ursa said.

"She just looks very friendly." Caboose said.

"No, Ursa's right. There's no way you can maintain a smile like what without some facial discomfort." Simmons said.

"Hello. My name is Joo Dee!" the woman said excitingly. "I have been given the honor of showing the Avatar around Ba Sing Se. And you must be Sokka, Katara, and Toph. Welcome to our city."

"Does that mean we get to see the king now?" Sarge asked.

"The earth king is very busy running the finest city in the world." Joo Dee said.

Wash soon found himself inside a large carriage with team avatar. The red and blue soldiers walked alongside them. The whole scene was unnerving, like they were royalty escorted by heavily armed body guards.

"This is the lower ring." Joo Dee said.

"This place looks like shit!" Tucker said, bringing his rifle to bear.

"Hopefully, the reset of the city isn't that bad." Wash said.

"What's the wall for?" Katara asked.

"Ba Sing Se has many walls. There are the ones outside protecting us, and the ones inside of us that maintain order. This is where our newest arrivals live, as well as our craftsman and artisans, people that work with their hands. It's so quaint and lively." Joo Dee said.

"You'll find more cheer in a graveyard." Ursa gloomly said.

A man looked at them from an alley, showing his sword. Tucker brandished his plasma sword in response.

"You might want to watch your step." Joo Dee said.

"Sarge, you get the feeling like we're walking into a trap?" Wash asked.

"I got the same feeling too. Like we're being herded into an ambush." Sarge said.

Wash looked outside and saw a slum. He'd seen the same situation many times during the covenant war. Refugees would be huddled into places of shelter, but thanks to lack of resources, the outcome always turned bad. And then the UNSC would be forced to abandon the planet, and leave the refugees at the mercy of the Covenant.

"Out of sight, out of mind. Old, but damningly effective." Wash muttered.

The tour continued in the middle ring of the city. And Wash just wished Joo Dee would shut up. She kept on saying how the city was great, when it clearly wasn't.

"And this is the middle ring, home to the financial districts, shops and restaurants, and the university."

"Yeah, we met a professor from Ba Sing Se University. He took us to an ancient underground library where where we discovered information about the war that is absolutely crucial for the earth king to hear!" Sokka shouted.

"Isn't history wonderful? Look, here's one of the oldest towns in the middle ring, Town Hall." Joo Dee said.

"Is she deaf? She only hears every other word I say." Sokka said.

"It's called being handled. Get used to it." Toph said.

When the tour was over, two houses were given to the large group as a gift to defending the city. Red team occupied one house, and everyone else occupied the other house. Wash and Tucker laid out where to put the weapons and equipment, converting the house into a makeshift command center.

"The Pelican will arrive at night, and deliver the weapons and ammunition we need. I hope the Dai Li don't catch wind of it.

"I know. That's kind of creepy, those guys hiding in the shadows. I got a bad feeling about them." Tucker said.

"It's more like the Stasi of East Germany, than a regular police force. Aang and his friends are going to search for their Bison. They won't find it during the day. You and Sarge divide the weapons and equipment. God help us if it all goes to hell." Wash sighed.

"Amen to that." Tucker said.

Wash ran across the buildings, as he kept a watchful eye on the group and their surroundings. At the moment, Wash looked thru his DMR scope and watched as the kids, tagged by Joo Dee, were talking to what appeared to be a student, or a teacher, in front of Ba Sing Se University. He watched as Sokka loomed over him, probably asking him about the war.

The person meekly glance upward, and saw Joo Dee. Wash saw as she shook her head. Exhaling his breath, he put the cross-hairs on Joo Dee's head, finger caressing the trigger. Wash saw movement and saw the student quickly stand up and walk away. He tripped and spilled his scrolls. Quickly gathering them up, he ran towards the school, occasionally looking back.

"And you." Wash muttered, putting the scope on Joo Dee again, watching her wave, while still having the creepy smile. He wondered what set the student off. But his suspicions, plus conversation with Tucker made him realize that Ba Sing Se was far from what he heard before.

Wash ran back towards the house, taking alleys and backways so he wouldn't be discovered. Walking inside, he put the DMR aside and took the scope off the sniper rifle.

"So, what'd you find out?" Ursa asked.

"A lot. This city is a hell-hole. The Dai Li appear to be watching everyone, maybe us." Wash said.

"The kids are talking with someone." Ursa said.

Wash slightly opened the curtains and looked thru the scope. He saw team avatar walking to an older man, who's head was peeking out from the door.

"What's got you so riled up?" Wash muttered, as he saw the man slam the door.

The kids walked inside, and into Wash's questioning.

"What did he tell you?" Wash asked.

"He said to stay away from the Dai Li." Aang said.

"I don't understand. No-one will talk about the war." Sokka said.

"Isn't it obvious? The higher ups of the city don't want the people to know about the war. So they use the Dai Li, among other methods of control, to keep the people in check. Remember the third ring?" Ursa asked.

"Those were refugees. Kept away from the inner parts of the city, so they couldn't talk about it." Wash said.

"This is bullshit. Lets talk to the king about what's going on." Tucker said.

"That may be difficult." Ursa said.

"How?" Tucker asked.

"The king will be heavily surrounded by guards and agents. And that's even if we know where he'll be held." Ursa said.

Wash headed to the red team to tell the about his findings.

"This place really doesn't sound like a slice of warm pudding now that we're here." Sarge said.

"Great. We came, we saw it sucked, and we're leaving." Griff said.

"As much as I hate Griff, I'd have to agree with him. So I'm just going to grunt ambiguously. Ugh." Sarge said.

"Too bad. Me and Tucker are already ferrying in weapons and supplies from the ship. If we can get the earth king's support, there's a chance of ending this war." Wash said.

"What makes you think we can get to the earth king?" Simmons asked.

"I don't know. I don't know." Wash sighed, tired from the ordeal.

Heading back to his house, Wash entered his room and closed the door. Removing his armor, he lay on the bed, exhausted. First, he brought down project freelancer, was almost killed by the Meta in the process. Then, he crash lands on this strange planet, and has to help in the war against the fire nation. If it wasn't for the fact that he was already hardened thanks to the Epsilon AI killing itself in his head, he would have lost it a while ago. Probably back in the desert.

"You tired?" Ursa asked, entering the room.

"Exhausted. I just want to sleep." Wash said.

That night, the pelican drop ship hovered over the house, and supplies were dropped via zip-line towards the house.

"Hurry up with the supplies, lets go!" Tucker said.

Tucker and Donut had to work fast, as Tucker feared they were already attracting plenty of attention. Most of the supplies went to red team, as history on earth showed that guns and kids did not work. And most of the food went to blue team, as Donut advised Tucker to do so.

The morning came, and Washington woke up early. With everyone else asleep he went into the living room and put his DMR on the table. Wash cleaned his rifle inside and out, knowing full well that cleaning your weapon made sure you were going to have a higher chance of survival.

Moving the wire brush down the barrel, Wash went over his thoughts of team avatar. The kids were good fighters, and living in a war had a tendency to harden a person really quick. The fact that they still maintained their sanity and morals showed Wash how mentally fortified they were.

Ursa… she'd been thru plenty of shit as well. Having been banished from her home and living under the threat of being captured and killed by fire nation troops. The fact that she divulged such damning information to him told him that she trusted him. It was not something a person would do if they were panicking and in a desperate situation.

Wash grinned as he remembered Ursa nailed him in the balls real hard with a surprise kick to the groin. He mentally noted to teach Ursa hand to hand combat, and make sure to avoid such another strike. So far, no-one except him knew of her true origins. And he was going to make sure it stayed that way.

"Hey, Wash. What are you doing up so early?" Ursa asked.

"Cleaning my rifle. I was drilled over and over that if you take care of your equipment, it will take care of you." Wash said, as he put back his newly cleaned rifle.

"I was just thinking. I'd like you to teach me hand to hand combat." Ursa said, sitting next to him.

"You must be psychic, because I had the same thing." Wash said.

"This is something. The hard-ass freelancer trying to joke." Ursa said.

"Don't say a word. I want to maintain my image as a no-nonsense badass." Wash said.

"Would a no-nonsense badass observe me while I was taking a bath?" Ursa asked, catching Wash off guard.

"Wait… I… How did you know?" Wash asked.

"You just told me. Right now." Ursa said.

"You got me there." Wash said.

"But I remember you saying, 'Maybe I can start a family with Wash.' Anything about that?" Wash pointed out.

"It means she's into you, Wash." Toph said, catching both of them off guard. Team avatar and blue team were lounging around in the room. How Wash didn't notice their presence was something that stumped him. Katara came inside with a piece of paper in her hand.

"There's a way for us to see the king." She said.

"How are we going to do that? One does not pop in on the earth king." Toph said, mimicking Joo Dee's voice.

"The king is having a party tonight with his pet bear." Katara said.

"Who the hell keeps a bear as a pet?" Wash asked.

"You mean platypus bear?" Aang asked.

"No. It just says bear."

"Maybe a skunk bear." Sokka said.

"A what?" Wash asked.

"What the fuck is that?" Tucker asked.

"Armadillo bear?" Toph offered.

"Yeah, that's my favorite kind." Caboose said.

"Caboose, do you understand what's going on?" Tucker asked.

"No." Caboose said.

"Just, bear." Katara said.

"This place, is weird." Toph said.

Moments later, Katara's enthusiasm returned.

"The place will be packed. We can sneak in with the crowd." Katara said.

"That's the worst idea I've ever heard, of all time. Seriously. This is going to fail." Wash said.

"Wash is right. All of you, will be spotted a mile away. You won't get close enough to the king, let alone be admitted to the party. This is the king we're talking about. The guards and Dai Li won't let any random person inside. Perfect opportunity for an assassination." Ursa said.

"Ursa's right. I was on a black ops mission for project freelancer, similar to this. I was ordered to assassinate a high ranking official. Spoiler alert, it failed. Breaking in would be suicide, and trying to meet the king and get out before the Dai Li capture us, is suicide and a bunch of kittens dying." Wash said.

"Where the kitten's okay?" Caboose asked.

"This is not going to work at all." Wash said.

"Yeah, I'd like to get back to the part of the kittens." Caboose said.

"Toph, you were raised in a high society household. You can teach us." Katara said.

"Yeah, that's true, but you guys weren't trained in it. And it's a little too late." Toph said.

"I'm learning all the elements. How hard can it be?" Aang asked.

Aang then proceeded to wrap himself in the curtain and made an act of being a high ranking member of society, followed by Sokka. Ursa and Wash facepalmed themselves at the same time.

"I'm heading out." Wash said, standing up and putting the rifle on his back.

"What for?" Tucker asked.

"If you guys are seriously considering this op, I'm going to get some intel." Wash said.

Wash came back later that day, and pulled Ursa aside.

"I have a plan, and I need your help to enact it." Wash said.

"Count me in." Ursa said.

"I got tickets, but they're expensive so I only got two. My plan, is me and you pretend we're husband and wife. The Avatar and his friends, are our children. Hopefully we can bluff our way past the guards." Wash said.

"I'm in, but what about the red and blues?" Ursa asked.

"They'll come as well. However, they won't be able to get tickets so they'll go in as busboys. I scouted the building where the party is being held." Wash said, opening a piece of paper and showing it to Ursa.

"We go in at the front, while the red and blues go in through the back, probably where the servants will be offloading the food and drinks. Once we're inside, we stay low and avoid detection. We meet with the king, and tell him about the eclipse." Wash said.

"What if it goes south?" Ursa asked.

"Worst case scenario, we fight our way out." Wash said.

Wash gathered the sim troopers, and told them of the upcoming mission.

"We're going to meet the earth king, but we don't have enough tickets for everyone. You guys will have to go as busboys. Enter thru the back, disguise yourself, and meet with the us inside." Wash said.

"Aw man. Does this mean I won't be eating the food?" Griff asked.

"Griff, we're about to meet the earth king, and if it goes south, we'll be fighting our way out. And you're concerned about food?" Simmons asked.

"I have needs, Simmons." Griff said.

Before they left the house, Wash put on a suit and observed himself in the mirror. He felt naked without the armor he wore, the protection and brute strength the armor afforded.

"Hello, handsome." Ursa said, approaching Wash from behind.

Wash turned around and observed Ursa. She was wearing a red dress that hugged her figure in all the right places.

"Hello, beautiful." Wash said, and pulled Ursa into a kiss.

That night, the operation was in full swing. Wash stood in line with Ursa at his side, and team avatar in front. Approaching the guard, Wash showed the ticket.

"Alright, go in." the guard said.

Once inside, Wash let out a breath he was holding. He observed the hundreds of people who got inside the party. While his instincts kept him alert for any threats, he overrode his instincts by trying to calm down, so he wouldn't attract any attention.

"Wash, is that you?" Tucker asked.

"It's me, Tucker." Wash said.

"So what's the plan?" Sarge asked.

"We lay low. Once we see the king, Aang moves in. If it hits the fan, we grab Aang, and fight our way out." Wash said.

"Holy mother of satan." Griff said, as he spotted a table with lots of food.

"Let him eat. We need to stay undercover, remember?" Sarge asked, earning a quick look from everyone.

"We're boned." Wash said.

Joo Dee came and approached the large group, apparently frightened.

"What are you doing here? You have to leave immediately, or we will all be in trouble!"

"Not until we see the king." Sokka said.

"Tell us. Why should we be in trouble?" Ursa asked.

"You don't understand." Joo Dee said.

"Then make us understand, because we're not leaving until we meet with the king." Wash said.

"Who runs the Dai Li?" Simmons asked.

Joo Dee seemed to fall apart under the questions. Fortunately for her, a high ranking official comes to her rescue.

"I'm Long Feng. And I need to speak with the Avatar and his friends." Long Feng said.

"You work for the King?" Katara asked.

"Yes. I'm his advisor." Long Feng said.

Trusting blindly, team Avatar followed Long Feng into another room.

"Wash, I have a bad feeling about him." Ursa said.

"Me, too." Wash said, and went to grab Sarge.

"Sarge, looks like we'll have to break them out." Wash said.

"About time we get some action around here." Sarge said.

"Please make sure Donut didn't hear that." Wash said.

"Right on that." Sarge said.

The two hugged the wall and approached the room where Long Feng was. Putting their ears to the door, they listened to what was going on inside.

"He's your puppet!" Toph shouted.

"Who's the puppet?" Sarge asked.

"Quiet." Wash whispered.

"Oh, no. His majesty is an icon, a god to his people. He can't sully his hands with the hourly changes of an endless war." Long Feng said.

"Son of a bitch." Wash muttered.

"But we found out about a solar eclipse that will leave the fire nation defenseless! You can lead an invasion and…" Sokka started, when Long Feng stopped him.

"Enough! I don't want to hear your ridiculous plans. It is the strict policy of Ba Sing Se that the war not be mentioned. News of an escalating conflict will throw the citizens into a state of panic. Our economy would be ruined. Our way of life gone. By silencing talk of conflict, Ba Sing Se remains a peaceful, orderly utopia. The last one on earth." Long Feng said.

"You can't hide the truth from these people forever." Katara said.  
"I'll tell them! I'll let everyone know!" Aang demanded.

"Goddamn it, Aang." Wash muttered.

"Until now, you and your friends have been honored guests. But from now on, you'll be under watch. If you mention the war to anyone in the city, you'll be expelled. I understand you're looking for your missing Bison. It'd be a shame if you failed to complete your quest." Long Feng said, having team avatar by the balls.

"Now Joo Dee will show you home." Long Feng said.

…

 _Minutes earlier_

Ursa watched as Wash went to talk to Sarge. Her instincts kicked in. She knew that Fire Lord Ozai was paranoid, and often had his on security force. Watching Sarge and Wash crouch near one door, she slipped past the large crowed and tails a Joo Dee agent. Grabbing the agent, she slams the woman against the wall, knocking her out.

"Come on, Ursa. You've done this before. You're an actor." She muttered, as she put on the Joo Dee clothes, changed her hair and leaned against a door, hoping it was the right door.

"Now Joo Dee will show you home." Long Feng said.

Ursa walked through the door and approached the group. Her smile hurt, but she had to bear through it.

"What happened to Joo Dee?" Katara asked, not recognizing Ursa.

"I'm Joo Dee." Ursa said, motioning for the group to leave, where Sarge and Wash were waiting. Long Feng turned around and faced the roaring green fire.

Ursa grabbed one of the cups of tea laying on the table, reached inside her robe, and pulled out a small flask. Upturning the flask, she poured in the liquid inside the cup and handed the cup to Long Feng. Long Feng drank the cup and promptly collapsed, knocked out.

"Joo Dee?" Sokka asked, as Ursa walked towards the group.

At that moment, Sarge and Wash kicked the doors open and came in, silenced pistols in hand.

"What happened to him?" Sarge asked, looking at Long Feng's unmoving body.

"I knocked him out." Ursa said.

"How'd you do that, Ursa?" Wash asked.

"I'm very good with chemistry." Ursa said.

"Good move to impersonate one of the Joo Dee people." Sarge said.

"Yeah. Good move." Wash said, reminded of agent Carolina.


	11. Chapter 11 Lake Laogi

Ch 11 Lake Laogi

A fist came towards Wash, and he deflected it. Wash grabbed the extended arm and threw it on the ground, the body following.

"Remember to use your entire body." Wash said as he picked Ursa up.

"Like this?" Ursa asked, as she attacked with a flurry of punches and kicks, keeping Washington moving from one spot to the next. Wash suddenly lunged forward and tackled Ursa. Ursa wrapped her legs around Wash and threw him over and now straddled him.

"Where you trained in hand to hand at the palace?" Wash asked.

"I took some classes when I had the chance. It's starting to come back." Ursa said.

"I can help you with that. And you dressing as the Dai Li is giving me an idea." Wash said.

"Infiltrate the Dai Li? Could work, won't work, who knows." Ursa said.

Wash and Ursa walk inside and watch Sokka drawing on paper.

"What are you drawing?" Wash asked.

"It's Appa." Sokka said.

"Really? Caboose can draw better than that." Wash said.

"And that's saying something." Tucker said.

Aang and Katara came into the house with a stack of papers.

"Sokka, what are you doing?" Aang asked.

"He's attempting to draw Appa. I hope you have a better poster." Ursa said.

"Here it is." Aang said, showing the highly detailed poster.

"Wow. This is very good." Wash said, taking the picture.

"Hey, Aang. Maybe you can draw me some pictures." Tucker said.

"Don't do it, Aang. It's not worth it." Wash said.

"Why not?" Aang asked.

"Some things are better not known." Wash said.

"You're cryptic all the time, you know that?" Ursa asked.

Aang left on his glider to deliver the posters, and when he came back, he found everyone lounging in the living room.

"Has anyone come yet?" Aang asked.

"Be patient, Aang." Katara said.

The door was quickly knocked on, and Wash was suspicious.

"That's not right. Those flyers were just delivered." He said.

"Could be the Dai Li." Ursa said.

"I think you're right." Sarge said, pumping the rack on his shotgun.

Aang opened the door, and saw Joo Dee.

"What happened to you? Were you taken to jail?" Sokka asked.

"What? Jail? Of course not. I was sent on a vacation to Lake Laogai. It was quite refreshing." Joo Dee said.

"Wait a minute. We infiltrated the king's party, and you warned us to leave. We didn't leave at first, being apprehended by that Long Feng person. And instead of punishing you for failing in your job, they send you on a vacation." Wash said, not buying her story.

"You don't buy her story?" Aang asked.

"The holes in her story are so big, I can fly a covenant supercarrier thru it. I've seen one before. The sheer size is…." Wash purposely cut off.

"So what are you doing here?" Ursa asked.

"Dropping fliers and putting up posters isn't permitted in the city. Not without proper clearance." Joo Dee said.

"I'd like to properly put a bullet thru your cranium." Wash muttered.

"Wash." Ursa chastised.

"We can't wait for clearance on everything." Sokka said.

"We don't care about the rules and we're not asking for permission! We'll find Appa our own way, and you should just stay out of our way!" Aang shouted, slamming the door in Joo Dee's face.

"Great work, Aang. Men, time to enact operation cause chaos and find the giant bison before the Dai Li." Sarge said, prompting looks from his group.

"Sarge, considering the Dai Li's resources, I find it highly unlikely we'll find Appa before they do, if they don't have him in custody already." Simmons said.

"Simmons, we're Red team. We'll find that giant fluffy monster in no time." Sarge said.

The group separated into smaller parties, putting up posters across the city to help get the word out.

"Caboose, don't eat the glue!" Tucker said.

"Yeah, it's kind of sticky. Maybe I should sniff it." Caboose said.

"Jesus Christ." Wash muttered, thankful that he wasn't paired up with Caboose.

"He's an odd one." Aang said, as he put a poster on the wall.

"I think they're all odd ones." Ursa said.

"But they get the job done when they put their heads to it." Wash said, when he heard some shouted.

Katara looked at Jet, whom she just pinned against the wall with icicles. Looking behind her, she saw her group and the reds and blues, aiming their weapons at Jet.

"Katara, what's going on?" Aang asked.

"Jet's back." Katara said.

"Who?" Wash asked, lowering his sniper rifle.

"We can't trust anything he says." Katara said.

"But we don't know why he's here." Sokka said.

"Doesn't matter. It can't be good." Katara said.

"Lets hear his story. If he's an enemy, we let our new friends kill him." Ursa said.

"Good compromise." Wash said, lowering his rifle.

"I'm here to help you find Appa." Jet said.

"You're lying." Katara said.

"Katara, shut up. Jet, keep talking." Ursa said. Katara folded her arms and pouted at Ursa.

"He's telling the truth." Toph said.

"How can you tell?" Tucker asked.

"When people lie, there's a physical change. He's telling the truth." Toph said.

"Katara, he's our only lead." Aang said.

"Fine. But we're not letting you out of our sight." Katara said.

Jet took the group to a large warehouse, which was empty.

"If this is another trap…" Katara said, pulling out some water.

"He was here." Toph said, holding some fur.

"Yeah. They shipped that creature to some island." An older man said, sweeping the floor.

"What island?" Aang asked.

"Whale tail island." The man said.

"How far away is the island?" Sarge asked.

"Very far. Right at the south pole." Sokka said, opening a map.

 _Church… it's why they stuck you in some useless backwater canyon where no-one ever goes. Then why they transferred every person in your outpost to a different base than you._

Wash clenched his hand and put the memories away. Why would they transfer Appa to another island, right where the Avatar can easily get his hands on it?

"Guys, wait here." Wash said to the red and blues.

"Something on your mind?" Simmons asked.

"Don't you think it's strange that we just happen to run into Jet, and happen to find information about Appa's position? I doubt he's on the island. Aang can just easily head there, get the bison, and fly back to the city. This sounds like a snipe hunt, and I doubt the Dai Li will just let Aang get his bison that easily." Wash said.

"You think it's somewhere else?" Sarge asked.

"Maybe it's invisible." Caboose said.

"It's in the city. Somewhere close so they can easily get rid of Appa, maybe send his fur to another place, and claim they found Appa in said other location. He's here. Just don't know where. Hell, Project Freelancer did a similar thing to the Alpha. Move him from one location to another so the agents couldn't get a hold of it. And the Dai Li are pulling the same game." Wash said.

"Makes a lot of sense. You know, I'm having second thoughts about helping these kids. Running into the Dai Li is just like the Freelancers. And we all know what happened." Sarge said.

"You're right about that." Wash said.

"So what do we do? Do we stay, go?" Simmons asked.

"Griff, Lopez, Donut. You three load up the supplies and take it back to the ship." Sarge said.

Leaving the warehouse, they saw the group drag Jet off the streets.

"Now that's a sight you don't see." Wash said.

"What's going on?" Wash asked.

"He was brainwashed by the Dai Li." Ursa said.

"Shit." Wash replied.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jet said.

"We're trying to jog his memories. Figure out what the Dai Li did to him." Sokka said.

"The fire nation. Remember what they did to your family." Smellerbee said.

Jet closed his eye and remembered. His eyes re-opened in a mad frenzy.

"It's too painful!" Jet said.

"Restrain him, now." Wash said, moving behind Jet and grabbed his shoulders.

"Wait. Let me try something." Katara said, taking Wash's position and bended water onto his head.

Jet heavily breathed inside and out and remembered.

"They took me to their headquarters under the water, like a lake!" Jet said.

"Lake Laogi. That's where they took you, and Joo Dee." Wash said.

Outside the city, Jet lead the group to the lake he mentioned.

"There's nothing here." Ursa said.

Toph earthbended the entrance to raise above the sea level. One by one, the group went down the ladder and into the base.

"Any idea what goes on down here?" Tucker asked.

"We're the first outsiders to see the headquarters of the Dai Li. So be prepared for anything." Wash said, raising his rifle.

"Wash, take a look at this." Ursa said, peeking inside a room. Inside, was dozens of woman, all being brainwashed to be Joo Dee agents.

"Nothing we can do for them. We stick to the mission." Wash said, dragging Ursa away.

"I think Appa's in here." Jet said, opening a door.

The red and blues went in first, scanning the room for any threats.

"Now that's something different." Sokka said, as he saw dozens of Dai Li agents hanging from above.

"You are all enemies of the state. Take them into custody." Long Feng said, and the agents dropped to surround the group. The second they touched ground, the red and blues fired on them. Earthbending was no much for rapid fire 7.62 mm. But more Dai Li agents were heading to stop the red and blues.

"Caboose, they're on our side. Help them!" Tucker said.

"Okay." Caboose said.

The hapless sim trooper calmly walked towards the advancing Dai Li agents and hosed them down with his assault rifle.

"Long Feng's escaping!" Aang shouted, and he and Jet ran after the leader.

"Keep firing! They won't come after us for long." Wash said, as he fired at a group of Dai Li agents taking cover behind a cover of earth. The high caliber bullet tore them to shreds.

"What about Long Feng?" Ursa asked, as she shot a fleeing Dai Li agent.

"We'll deal with him soon." Wash replied.

The Dai Li agents were killed as soon as they appeared. Wash ran forward after Jet and Aang, hoping to shoot Long Feng.

Wash ran down the murky cavern and heard a commotion.

"Jet, snap out of it!" Aang shouted.

Rounding the corner, Wash saw Jet swinging his swords at Aang, while Long Feng was smirking at the situation.

"One shot, Wash." He muttered as he looked thru the scope and put the crosshairs on Jet. One squeeze of the trigger, and Jet fell dead like a sack of potatoes, blood pooling from his head.

"What was that for?!" Aang shouted, as Long Feng ran.

Wash looked at Long Feng's previous position and shook his head.

"He's gone." Wash said.

"You mind telling me why you killed him?" Aang asked.

"He was about to kill you." Wash said.

"What's going on-oh no." Katara said, seeing Jet's dead body.

"Are we going to stand here, or are we going to find Appa?" Wash angrily asked.

"Wash is right. Where is he?" Tucker asked.

"Down there." Toph said.

The group followed the direction and opened the door, finding another empty room.

"Damn it! He's one step ahead of us!" Wash said.

"Not for long." Sokka said.

Escaping to the beach, they were ambushed by more Dai Li agents.

"Can we outrun them?" Tucker asked.

"I don't think that's going to matter." Aang said.

Aang's warning was correct, as the Dai Li quickly surrounded them.

"Oh, no. We're surrounded." Simmons said.

"Nonsense, Simmons. This is a target rich environment." Sarge said, putting more shotgun shells inside his shotgun.

"For once, you're right Sarge." Wash said, as he put in another mag in his sniper rifle.

"Oh, no. It's the end of the world." Ursa playfully said, as she joined the red and blues in massacring the Dai Li agents, again.

"Aw shit." Long Feng muttered, as he saw the sim troopers walk towards him weapons raised.

A deep roar was heard, prompting everyone to scatter.

"What the hell is that?!" Tucker shouted, as Appa soared overhead and landing in front of Long Feng.

"It's Appa!" Aang shouted.

The bison landed in front of Long Feng and threw him into the sea.

"Appa's back!" Sokka shouted.

"What kind of a creature is that?" Simmons asked.

"A ten-ton flying bison. Judging from its markings, it belongs to the air nomads." Wash said.

"Can it be my friend?" Caboose asked.

"More importantly, can you pick up chicks on a flying bison?" Tucker asked.

"More things change…" Wash muttered.


	12. Chapter 12 the earth king

Ch 12 the earth king

"We escaped from the Dai Li, we have Appa back, and the red and blues with us. We can go and see the earth king." Sokka said.

"Hell no. After what we saw, we want no part in this war." Sarge said, slinging his shotgun.

"Sarge is right. This is not our war, but we have no choice, but to help." Wash said.

"Help? Are you crazy?" Tucker asked.

"Tucker, I've done the calculations in my head over and over. The ship doesn't have enough supplies to last a full year of hard combat. And the fire nation will shoot first and ask later. Between letting the fire nation win the war, and siding with the earth kingdom, we'll have to pick the lesser of two evils. But when this war is over, we can kill the Dai Li, hunt them down to the last man." Wash said.

"Fine." Tucker grudgingly said.

"Alright. Field trip!" Caboose said.

"It's not exactly a field trip. Out of the frying pan and into the fire." Wash said.

The large group piled on Appa and headed towards the palace, with some complications.

"How the hell are we going to stay on this thing?!" Tucker asked.

"I don't know! If I look down, my chances of falling increase dramatically!" Simmons responded.

"Don't look down then!" Ursa shouted, holding onto Wash for dear life.

Simmons looks down.

"Oh my god!" Simmons shouts.

Flying over Ba Sing Se, Katara made a note Sarge was quick to retort on.

"Long Feng has probably warned the king and fortified the place."

"Gee, put that in an envelope titled 'shit I already know!'" Sarge retorted.

"No need to be snippy." Katara said.

"I agree with Sarge. We're heading right into a trap." Wash said.

At that warning, the sim troopers loaded their guns for combat.

"No guns. Hand to hand only. Save your bullets for the Dai Li only." Wash said.

"A chance to use my sword." Tucker said, his hand caressing the hilt.

"Incoming!" Sokka shouted, as surface to air rocks were fired at them.

"Wash, use your sniper rifle!" Simmons shouted.

"We have to conserve ammunition!" Wash reminded.

"I hope you brought your wallets! Because the first one who kills a Dai Li gets paid in advance!" Sarge shouted.

"We're facing earth kingdom troops. Not Dai Li." Simmons said.

Upon touchdown, the armored soldiers jumped from Appa and headed towards the mass swarm of earth kingdom guards and tore thru them, using their bare hands and superior strength and skills.

"This is greater than grif-ball!" Sarge said, as he grabbed one of the guards and threw him into a small river.

"More guards!" Wash shouted.

"Men, fix bayonets!" Sarge shouted, unslinging his shotgun and putting the bayonet attachment on the forward end.

Sarge ran forward and bayoneted a soldier to death. Suddenly, a boulder is thrown at him and knocks him on his side, only for said thrower to be impaled by Wash.

"Get to the throne room!" Wash shouted.

Approaching the stairs, Toph and Aang collapsed the stairs, and brought the group up a flat slope, watching as the earth king guards fell down the slope to the ground below.

"Sorry, dirt-bags. We just need to see the king, that's all." Sarge said.

"What do we do when we confront the king?" Tucker asked.

"Don't shoot him on sight, of course." Ursa said.

"Guess I can simply bludgeon him until he agrees to fight the war." Sarge said.

"No bludgeoning as well. We must show ourselves as allies. But considering how we tore thru his guards…" Wash said, looking at his blood-stained bayonet.

"May not go as planned." Sokka said.

Reaching the top, they quickly headed inside the now unguarded palace.

"Search every room!" Wash said, kicking a door open and seeing it empty.

"There's a shiny door at the end of the hall." Caboose said.

"Caboose, you're a genius!" Tucker said.

Wash and the sim troopers ran at full tilt and the combined weight of their armor was enough to break the doors open.

"What's the meaning of this?!" the king asked, seeing everyone come inside.

"We have to talk to you." Aang said.

"They're here to overthrow you." Long Feng said.

"This is a shit-hole city. The only reason we're still here is to see you." Tucker said.

"You invade my palace, attack my guards and break down my doors. And you expect me to trust you?" the king asked.

"He does have a point." Toph said.

"No shit." Sarge said.

"If you are on my side, you'll put those weapons down." The king said.

Team avatar dropped their weapons, and the sim troopers slung their rifles. At that moment, the Dai Li quickly handcuffed them.

"Wash, do something." Ursa said, a frantic look in her eyes.

Wash struggled against the earth handcuffs but was unable to break free.

"Put them and the avatar into lockdown." Long Feng said.

"The avatar?" the king asked.

"What does it matter? They're enemies of the state." Long Feng said.

"But the avatar… lets hear his case." Kuei said.

"There's been a war going on for 100 years. The Dai Li have kept it secret from you in a conspiracy to control the city." Aang said.

"A conspiracy? That's crazy." Keui said.

"Long Feng didn't want us to tell you. He kidnapped our bison to blackmail us. And that's the least of his crimes." Aang said.

"All lies. I never even seen one. They're extinct." Long Feng said.

"Your claim is difficult to believe, even from the avatar." Kuei said.

"What about the Joo Dee? We saw dozens of woman being brainwashed to be the same mindless drone. You can't hide that." Wash said.

"And here's the proof." Aang said, opening Appa's mouth and airbended Long Feng's cloak, showing the bite mark.

"There's that, but I still don't believe in the conspiracy of the Dai Li." Kuei said.

"We can show you." Ursa firmly said.

Wash barely noticed Long Feng leave the room.

"We may have a problem." Wash said.

"What kind of problem?" Sarge asked.

…

"Long Feng destroyed the entrance." Katara said.

"This is a waste of time. I'm heading back to the palace." Kuei said.

"Wait! If you come with us to the outer wall, we can show you the war is real." Aang said.

"No earth king has been to the outer wall." Kuei said.

They headed to the outer wall, and saw the drill still embedded inside the wall.

"What's that?" Kuei asked.

"A drill. Made by the fire nation to carve its way to Ba Sing Se." Katara said.

"Oh no." the king muttered.

"Don't worry, your majesty. This is simply a construction project." Long Feng said, appearing on the wall.

The troopers immediately pointed their guns at Long Feng.

"Should we kill him?" Sarge asked.

"I'd love to." Wash growled.

"Why does your construction project have a fire nation emblem on it?" Katara pointed out.

Long Feng had a subtle 'oh shit' look on his face that everyone saw.

"It's imported. You can't trust domestic machinery you know." Long Feng said.

Kuei narrowed his eyes.

"Dai Li. Arrest Long Feng. I want him tried for treason and crimes against the state." Kuei said.

The two agents gave each other a suspicious look and arrested Long Feng.

"Sarge, did your men get all the supplies out of the city?" Wash asked.

"Yes. Why?" Sarge asked.

"I get the feeling we'll be leaving the city sooner than we think." Wash said.

"Again, with the cryptic talk." Ursa said.

That night, they spoke with the earth king.

"I can't believe we're at war with the fire nation." Kuei said.

"It's true. And we're running out of time." Wash said.

"By the end of the summer, Sozin's comet will return, and give the fire nation immense power. They'll be unstoppable." Aang said.

"But there is hope. Before the comet comes, we have a window of opportunity. A solar eclipse is coming. The sun will be blocked off, and the fire benders will be powerless." Sokka said.

"What are you suggesting, Sokka?" Kuei asked.

"He wants you to send troops to attack the fire nation. Good plan, but a solar eclipse last at best, 12 minutes. That can go by quick in a firefight." Wash said.

"It's the only option on the table. It's the last window before the world goes to hell." Sokka said.

"That would require moving thousands of troops from Ba Sing Se, leaving us vulnerable." Kuei said.

"That drill in the wall shows you're already vulnerable. Next time, the fire nation will succeed. You pull the troops out so they can fight another day. And that next day, is the solar eclipse." Sarge said.

General How came in with a small case and opened it.

"My men searched Long Feng's quarters and found all of these. Letters for the avatar and his friends." General How said.

"Long Feng confiscated our mail? That's sad." Toph said.

"It's a good method of controlling the city. If you know every single person in the city, that's a shit load of power in your hands." Wash said.

The kids discussed the notes and letters they found. After going thru hell, they finally had the rest they deserved.

"So what do we do now?" Aang asked.

"I guess we should split up." Katara said.

"We just got our family back together. Now you want us to split up?" Aang asked.

"Aang, you need to meet this guru and master the avatar state. And we all have other things to do." Katara said.

"Don't worry, Aang. It's only temporary." Ursa said.

"Katara, Sokka. Didn't the general say your father is in the bay?" Wash asked.

"Yes. Why?" Sokka asked.

"Listen. When the Dai Li took Long Feng away, I saw them look at each other for a brief second. If the Dai Li are planning something, I want us all to be as far away as possible. We regroup at the bay and leave this city. Sarge, you and everyone else stay in the city. I'm leaving with Ursa to the bay." Wash said.

"What do you want us to do?" Tucker asked.

"Protect team avatar at any costs. I get the feeling someone, or something, will be gunning for all of us." Wash said.

Wash and Ursa left the palace and passed the Kyoshi warriors as they headed to the palace. Both Wash and the lead girl briefly glanced at each other and walked as if it was nothing.

 _Wash watched as a large blue fireball slammed into the building he was hiding in that tossed him back. Standing up he walked thru the fire, the suit protecting him. He saw Azula approaching Ursa, ready to kill._

 _Wash ran full tilt and knocked the fire nation princess on her ass. A brief fight, and then a scream was heard. Wash turned and saw Ursa laying on the ground, unconscious._

Wash clenched his hand and walked with Ursa as they left the city and headed towards the bay.


	13. Chapter 13 returning

Ch 13 returning

Wash and Ursa approached the bay, and saw a fleet of water tribe ships anchored, with the soldiers working on various projects.

"Thank god." Wash said, as he lowered his sniper rifle.

"For what?" Ursa asked.

"Chances are, the Dai Li fabricated that message to trap Katara and Sokka, use them as leverage against Aang." Wash said.

"How long have you been thinking of that?" Ursa asked.

"Since we left the city. Thank god it's not them." Wash said.

Walking closer, they saw Sokka and approached him.

"Ready to meet your father?" Ursa asked.

Sokka only gulped and tried not to throw up.

"It's been two years since I last saw him." Sokka said.

"Don't worry, Sokka. He'll be very happy to see you, and to know that you're safe." Wash said.

The water tribes man watched with curiosity as they saw an unusual trio head towards them. A teenage boy dressed in similar water tribe tunic as them, a woman wearing earth kingdom clothes, and a tall walking blue and yellow colored armor, that easily towered over Sokka and Ursa.

"Here's the plan. If they attack, you take the weapons and run. I'll fight them." Wash whispered to Ursa.

Hakoda looked up and saw the trio, but his eyes were glued onto the youngest member.

"Dad." Sokka said.

Hakoda stood up and embraced his son, tears falling out from both of their eyes.

"Sokka. You've grown." Hakoda said, sitting down, his son following suit.

"Puberty, dad." Sokka said, smiling.

Hakoda could only hug his soon again, treasuring the small moment of happiness in a far brutal war.

"Who are these two?" Hakoda asked.

"I'm Ursa." Ursa said, shaking Hakoda's hand.

"Call me Wash." The freelancer agent said, his armored hand shaking Hakoda's hand.

"Good to meet you two. How's Katara and the avatar doing?" Hakoda asked.

"How'd you know Aang is with us?" Wash asked, his hand heading to his pistol.

"We get messages from across the earth kingdom. And it's not good. But I'm sure the three of you know that." Hakoda said.

"Hakoda, are you the leader of this group?" Wash asked.

"Yes." Hakoda said.

"I need to speak with you in private." Wash said.

Everyone else left, leaving Hakoda and Washington.

"How quickly can the fleet pack up and leave, permanently?" Wash asked.

"Two to three hours at the most. Why?" Hakoda asked.

"Long story, but Ba Sing Se is not what it's supposed to be. You and your men will need to move quick and fast. When the city falls, the fire navy will move in fast. Do you have a plan for when that happens?" Wash asked.

"We do have a plan. We steal a cruiser and leave. After that, we play it by ear." Hakoda said.

"That's good to know." Wash said.

"Wash, what is going on?" Hakoda asked.

"I'll tell you, but it doesn't leave this tent. There's a shadowy organization called the Dai Li, that's supposed to be keeping law and order in Ba Sing Se. However, they've been stealing power from the king since he was born. We ousted the leader of the Dai Li, and the king is in charge again, but I know that won't last long. Hell, the Dai Li are planning something right now. And unless you want you and your men to be caught up in a shit storm, I suggest you leave the city, and fight a guerrilla war against the fire nation." Wash said.

"Damn. I had no idea that happened. Alright, Wash. No-one will know what is happening. For now, we're to defend the bay against the fire navy." Hakoda said.

"Sir, I think the city will be safer under control of the fire nation, than the Dai Li." Wash coldly said.

Wash left the tent, leaving Hakoda to his thoughts.

"Are you sure about that?" Ursa asked, walking next to Wash.

"Yes. I'm sure of it. A totalitarian regime like the fire nation, from what you told me, will not allow the Dai Li to exist. The Dai Li could then work to overthrow the fire nation high command, and a totalitarian regime will have its own spies and covert police organization to maintain order. They won't allow the Dai Li, a rival police order to exist anywhere in the globe." Wash said.

"So you consider the fire nation to be the lesser of two evils." Ursa said.

"Let me put it this way. Say the war is over; we won. The fire nation is pushed off from the earth kingdom for good. But the Dai Li now control Ba Sing Se. I'd rather let the fire nation control Ba Sing Se." Wash said.

"I hope that doesn't happen." Ursa said.

"It won't. Besides, after we win the war me and my men will turn our guns on the Dai Li. I give them 5 hours against us, tops." Wash said.

…

Meanwhile Katara, Tucker, Sarge, and Caboose were at a war meeting, while the generals were making plans for the final offensive that will end the war.

"And on the day of black sun, we will send in our forces and crush the fire nation capital once and for all." General How said.

"If you can hold the city for that long. The fire nation will have something more powerful than the drill." Sarge said.

"We've held on this long. It's only a few months away. By the time the fire nation has a new weapon to take down the wall, it'll be far too late." A soldier said.

"All we need, is a seal of approval from the king." General How said, handing a parchment to Katara.

"Come on, lets find Griff. Knowing him, he's just napping on the job." Sarge said.

"How do you guys ever get anything done?" Katara asked.

"We don't." Tucker said.

"Time for some ice cream." Caboose said.

Katara just face-palmed herself. A bunch of morons were supposed to be guarding her and her friends. But they were real handy in a fight. Maybe that's why Wash told them to protect Aang and his group.

She only hoped her brother was having a better time.

"What's that?" Ursa asked, as she saw the water tribe men prepare a sea mine of some sort.

"Looks like a naval mine." Wash said.

"We call them stink mines. Gets tangled up in the propellers releasing the noxious smell. The crew abandons ship, and we destroy the cruiser at will." Hakoda said.

"And if the crew doesn't budge?" Wash asked.

"Plan B. Fight to the death." Hakoda said.

Wash stood on a hill and looked at the bay filled with water tribe ships and ruined fire nation cruisers.

"So, how does it look?" Sokka asked, approaching the freelancer.

"Well, as long as the fire nation doesn't do a blitzkrieg with their naval forces, your father and his troops can hold out for some time. Hold out for a few months, and use the ships as a base for the counterattack." Wash said.

"You know a lot of combat." Sokka said.

"I've been thru a lot." Wash heavily said.

"Well, glad you're with us." Sokka said.

"Sokka, I'd like some time alone." Wash said.

Sokka left, and Wash sat down, cross-legged.

 _How much more fighting and killing will I have to do?_

His own question was answered when Ursa came running.

"Wash, Aang needs you!" Ursa said.

Wash stood up and saw Aang and his bison in the center of the camp.

"Oh no." Wash muttered, knowing the news wasn't good.

"Ursa, stay here. We'll be back." Wash said to her.

Ursa now knew that if Wash was heading into a fight, it was her best interest to stay away as far as possible. The fights Wash was involved tended to be very gruesome at least.

"Give me a sitrep, Aang." Wash said, as he threw his rifles into the saddle and climbed in.

"A what?" Aang asked.

"Situation report. What's going on?" Wash asked.

"I had a vision that Katara was in trouble." Aang said.

"In the future?" Wash asked.

"No. Right now." Aang said.

"Appa, yip yip." Wash said.


	14. Chapter 14 the crossroads of destiny

Ch 14 crossroads of destiny

Wash quickly and furiously put his weapons and ammo ready for a fight. Taking inventory, he had one magazine for his DMR, and only 12 bullets for his sniper rifle. He had to be conservative.

"Sarge, Tucker. This is Wash."

"Hey, Wash. How's it going?" Sarge asked.

"Not good. We're heading back to the city. ETA, 30 minutes. Do you have Katara and the rest of the group?" Wash asked.

"We're at the house, but she isn't here. Neither is Toph." Tucker said.

"She said that she was meeting with her mother in the city, so they could be anywhere. Find them, and bug out of the city." Wash said.

"You got it, Wash." Sarge said, cutting the comms off.

"Is that Toph?" Sokka asked, looking down. Wash grabbed his sniper rifle and looked as well. Sure enough, he saw the blind tough as nails earth-bender.

"Need a lift?" Aang asked, as he flew Appa close to her. The distraction caused Toph to lose her focus and fall on the earth, giving herself a few fresh scrapes.

"That's gotta hurt." Wash muttered.

"Toph, I thought you were in the city." Sokka asked.

"I was, but then I was kidnapped. Of course, I broke myself out." Toph said.

"Well, at least your safe. Aang says that Katara is in danger. My men are scouring the city for her." Wash said.

"You don't sound too confident." Sokka said.

"It's less than a dozen of us searching for one person, in a city as large as Ba Sing Se. Of course I'm not." Wash said.

Wash's fears were proven correct when they returned to the city and entered the house.

"Katara, you here?" Wash asked, entering in, DMR in hand.

"She's not here." Toph said.

"She could be anywhere." Simmons said.

The door was knocked open, and the red and blues aimed their guns at the door.

"Aang, calmly open the door and step away." Wash said, looking thru the scope of his DMR.

Aang opened the door, and Iroh appeared in view.

"I need your help." Iroh said.

"Our hands are tied right now. I don't know if we can help you." Wash said.

"Princess Azula is here in the city." Iroh said.

"I know." Wash said.

"How'd you know?" Sokka asked.

"While I was leaving, I saw the three kyoshi warriors. The leader looked very familiar to me. I left Ursa with Hakoda at the bay. That's why I told my troops to protect you guys." Wash said.

"So your plan was to abandon the city?" Aang asked.

"Yes." Wash said.

"Azula must have Katara." Aang said.

"She has captured my nephew as well." Iroh said.

"Who's that?" Sarge asked.

"Zuko." Sokka grudgingly said.

"Then we'll work together to fight Azula, and save Katara and Zuko.

"Woah there. You lost me at, "Zuko"." Sokka said.

"I know how you must feel about my nephew. But believe me when I tell you there is good inside him." Iroh said.

"Good inside of him isn't enough. Why don't you come back when it's outside him too, okay?" Sokka asked, shoving Iroh away.

"Katara is in trouble. All of Ba Sing Se is in trouble. Working together is our best chance." Aang pleaded.

Sokka grudgingly agrees.

"Good. I brought someone who can help." Iroh said.

Outside, is a captured Dai Li agent.

"Azula and Long Feng are planning a coup. They're going to overthrow the king." The agent said.

"My sister. Where is she?" Sokka asked.

"In the catacombs beneath the city." The agent said.

"Good." Wash said, as he broke the agent's neck, killing him.

Above the city, the group waited as Toph knelt on the ground and told them of her discovery.

"Well, what do you know. There is an ancient city down there. But it's deep." Toph said.

"We should split up. Me and Tucker will go with Aang and Iroh. Everyone else, head to stop the coup. Remember. If it hits the fan, leave the city and head to the bay. That's the rally point." Wash said.

Wash and Tucker followed behind Iroh and Aang as they made their way to the underground of the city.

"So, have you boned Ursa yet?" Tucker asked.

"Jesus, Tucker. The world is about to fucking end, and you're asking that kind of questions?" Wash asked.

"Dude, I'm just trying to break the tension." Tucker said.

"Yes, because making sexual jokes is a great way to relieve the fact that we could all be dead before the day is over." Wash bitingly said.

…

The rest of the group gathered next to the palace, where they saw general How get captured by the Dai Li.

"The coup's already starting." Sokka said.

"Then we better hurry." Sarge said, racking the pump on his shotgun.

Heading inside, they ran into the throne room and saw the king.

"We need to get you out of here, now." Sarge said.

"What for?" the king asked.

"Yeah, what for, cutie?" Ty Lee asked, as she performed a summersault and landed in front of Sokka.

"They're not the real kyoshi warriors." Simmons said, as he grabbed Ty Lee and threw her across the room, the force of the impact knocking her out.

"Sorry to disappoint you." Mai said.

"Lady, I'm sorry to disappoint you as well." Sarge said, as he pulled out his pistol and shot Mai in her shoulders.

"Drop your weapons!" Azula shouted, appearing behind the king and holding a blue flame to his neck.

Caboose shrugged his shoulders, aimed his rifle and pulled the trigger. Azula clutched her cheek in shock and looked as Long Feng and his Dai Li agents arrived.

"Dai Li, kill them." Azula ordered.

The sim troopers simply turned their guns on the Dai Li agents, and were more than happy to gun them all down. Azula fled the scene with her two friends, and Long Feng was shot in the face, curtesy of Sarge.

"Where do we go now?" Simmons asked.

"Simmons, Toph, Sokka. Take the king and head to the bay. The rest of us will help Wash and the avatar." Sarge ordered.

…

Wash and Tucker took rear position as Aang and Katara ran thru the catacombs.

"Is there a way out of here?" Tucker asked.

Tucker didn't get an answer, as Azula attacked the 4 of them.

"Holy shit!" Tucker shouted, as the dust cleared.

"It's that bitch, Azula!" Wash shouted, aiming his DMR at her.

Katara pulls water from a nearby stream and goes on the offensive against Azula, yet Azula destroys the water and uses the steam as cover.

"Where is she?" Tucker asked.

"Got you now." Wash muttered, as he aimed upward into the steam and pulled the trigger. Gunshots rang out, and a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere and destroyed Wash's DMR.

"Damn it. She's good." He said, unslinging his sniper rifle.

Azula starts firing lightning at the group, causing them to scatter. Landing on her feet, she confidently walks forward, preparing for an attack.

"Over here!" Tucker shouts, activating his energy sword. Azula turns to her side and fires a bolt of lightning at Tucker. The sim trooper holds his plasma sword in front of him, and the energy builds up in the blade.

"Damn it!" Tucker growls, as he tosses his sword into the air, and watches it explode from the pent-up energy.

An orange fireball suddenly comes from nowhere and lands in the middle of the fight. Everyone turns to see Zuko approach the group, unsure of his intentions. Aang's eyes widen as Zuko attacks him.

"Oh come on!" Wash shouted, as he aimed his sniper rifle at Zuko. Putting the crosshairs on his head, he exhales and puts his finger on the trigger, only for the ground underneath him to violently explode.

"Trouble with cars, now with the ground." Wash muttered, as he stood up and faced 12 Dai Li agents.

"Too easy." Wash muttered and pulled out his knife.

Wash dodged an earth rock, grabbed one of the agents and plunged the knife into his head. Swinging rightward, he slashed another agent thru the throat. The Dai Li quickly wrapped his feet and legs with earth to prevent him from moving.

"Washington!" Caboose shouted, firing his assault rifle at the Dai Li agents.

"I'll be damned." Wash said, seeing the sim troopers come to his rescue.

"Did you stop the coup?" Wash asked, as Sarge and Caboose broke the earth bonds.

"No. But we got the king out of the city. We came back to help you guys." Griff said.

"That's selfless of you, Griff." Wash said.

"The food here is really good, so I feel like I have to do something in return." Griff said.

"That's more like it." Wash said.

"I thought you changed!" Katara shouted, as she dueled with Zuko.

"I have changed." Zuko replied.

"Oh, Wash. I got bad news." Caboose said.

"Can't get any worse than this." Wash replied.

A loud explosion was heard, and dozens of Dai Li agents quickly came into the catacombs. Wash's HUD registered at least 100 agents, as they all appeared at once, thanks to their advanced earthbending.

The sim troopers pulled out their weapons and started to fire at the Dai Li agents, but were running out of ammunition real soon.

"Out of ammo!" Wash shouted, slinging his sniper rifle.

"I'm all out! Griff, where's the ammo?" Sarge shouted, as he slung his shotgun.

"You said for Donut and Lopez to take everything back to the ship. Including the ammo." Griff said.

"We're in a bind here. Any ideas?" Wash asked.

"Only one idea so far. Kill as many as possible." Sarge said, as he holstered his now-empty pistol.

Aang took a look at the battlefield and noticed they were heavily outnumbered. Even the sim troopers were beginning to fray, and the piles of dead Dai Li surrounding them was very substantial.

"I'm sorry, Katara." Aang muttered, knowing what had to be done.

Aang earthbent a shelter of crystals and meditated. Activating all the chakras, he rose up in a pillar of light, attracting the attention of everyone else.

"What's that?" Sarge asked.

"Looks like he's mastered the avatar state." Wash said.

A bolt of lightning struke Aang thru the back, and he fell towards the earth.

"No!" Katara shouted, and attacks the Dai Li with a large wave, washing them away. She catches Aang and looks up as Azula and Zuko approach them. The sound of a bolt being racked catches her attention, and she watches as Tucker stands in front of her and Aang. He holds his pistol with one hand at the two firebenders, while his other hand is clutching his side, blood seeping past the fingers.

General Iroh jumps from above, landing between the two parties and is throwing fireballs at any attackers.

"Go! I'll hold them off!" Iroh shouted.

Tucker backed away with Katara and Aang and ascended using the waterfall to escape their imminent capture.

"Where's the rest of the team?" Katara asked.

"Don't know. We need to leave, now." Tucker replied.

Wash led the sim troopers back thru the same tunnel he came thru first, and came upon the darkened streets of Ba Sing Se. No-one was on the streets, almost as if the city itself knew the end had come.

"We need to run and fast." Wash said.

"No need to." Sarge said, as Appa landed next to the group and they climbed on board. Flying away from the city, the earth king made a sober statement.

"The earth kingdom, has fallen."


	15. Chapter 15

Ch 15 escaping

Ursa, Simmons, Toph, Sokka and the water tribe warriors looked up as Appa headed towards their position at full speed.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Ursa muttered.

Upon touch down, everyone jumped off the bison, Wash issuing orders.

"Pack up everything. We leave right now." Wash said.

"What's going on?" Sokka asked.

"We lost." Tucker said.

"The city?" Sokka asked.

"The whole fucking war!" Wash angrily responded.

Everyone moved double time to throw all the supplies into the ships and headed away from the bay, but their moment of reprieve was cruelly cut off.

"Fire nation ships! A ton of them!" a scout reported.

Wash looked with his helmet zoom and dropped his hand from the helmet.

"Wash?" Ursa asked.

"Wash, we need to do something." Simmons said.

"We can't. We can't stop them." Wash muttered, looking at the vast fleet entering the bay, ready to crush the last remnants of resistance.

Tucker also observed the fleet and looked at the water tribe soldiers who were gathering weapons.

"We have a plan for this, so lets get to it. Head towards the nearest fire nation ship, and prepare grappling hooks." Hakoda said, brandishing a sword.

"Wash, snap out of it!" Tucker said, grabbing him and shaking him out of his stupor.

Wash snapped out of his stupor and gulped.

"Right. Head to the nearest fire nation ship. We capture it, and leave the city." Wash said.

They didn't need to move much, as the cruiser headed towards them.

"On the count of 3, 2, 1." Tucker said, holding a grappler hook in his hand and threw it hard. The hook went over the cruiser's edge and snagged onto the metal.

"Everyone, go!" Hakoda urged, holding a sword.

Wash was the first to jump onto the ship, along with the red and blue soldiers.

"Quick and clean. No survivors." Wash ordered.

A door opened, and a fire nation soldier walked out, only for an armored hand to cover his mouth, and a metal blade was shoved in his throat, killing him.

"That was a close on." Wash muttered. "Tucker, take point."

Tucker walked forward, combat knifes in his hand. His motion tracker showed an enemy to his right. Turning, he saw the fire nation soldier shoot a fire ball at him. Tucker ducked and held his arms in front of his face in an X-form, dissipating the blast. When the fire was out, Tucker threw one of the knifes and nailed the soldier in the forehead.

As the troopers cleared the fire nation ship, Hakoda looked at the remaining fire nation fleet, hoping that they wouldn't notice the seizure of one of their ships.

"God, I hope this goes according to plan." Hakoda said.

"We got those troopers on our side. I'm sure they can easily take care of the fire nation troops." Ursa said.

"Come on, red team! We almost got them beat!" Sarge said, as he snapped the neck of an unfortunate sailor who ran into him.

Wash walked down a hallway and opened the door to the captain's room, getting a fireball to the face. It didn't slow him down, and he grabbed the leader and threw him against the wall, killing him.

"You got the ship secure?" Sokka asked, approaching Wash.

"We've got the bilges left. But for now, take the ship into open sea." Wash said.

…

A full week had passed, and they didn't encounter any fire nation ships. Everyone was sound asleep at night, except Wash.

"It's the middle of the night. What are you up for?" Ursa asked.

"I can't help shake the feeling we're sailing into a trap. We escaped the city, but what if someone saw? They could send a message and have a force of battleships waiting for us." Wash said.

"Maybe. But we're safe from fire nation hands for the moment. Besides, you need to relax for a moment." Ursa said.

Wash exhaled and let his shoulders droop for a second.

"You're right. It's been a couple of days since I slept." Wash admitted.

"Really? You don't look tired." Ursa said.

"I've been trained to fight for days on end. Project Freelancer knew what they were doing, sometimes." Wash said.

"Well, I know how to help you sleep." Ursa said, with a sly smile on her face.

"Do I want to know?" Wash asked.

"You interested or not?" Ursa asked.

Wash followed Ursa into the ship and into her quarters. It was well-made, like the rest of the quarters taken by the ship's crew. Except Griff. For some reason, his quarters were always a mess. Even if they were perfectly clean at the beginning. Wash quit trying to figure it out long ago.

Wash removed his helmet and put it on the nearby table when he was turned around and felt Ursa kiss him. Wash returned the favor, and was pushed into a chair by Ursa. she bent over at him with a sultry smile as she put a finger on his mouth to prevent him from saying a word. "Just sit down and relax." She said as she trailed her finger all the way down and stopped at his crotch, and then she grabbed his crotch and squeeze it to make him groan through his strained face and then unexpectedly she takes both his pants and underwear pants and after that, a bit of his eraction was showing as she pinched her chin. "Hmm, not quite hard enough." Just then something pops in her head. "I know!" With that she backed away in three paces and then she began to move her body erotically like a belly dancer and then she began to strip and the more she stripped, the more his penis grew and with the last piece of her clothing, she was now naked as a newborn and now that his penis hard enough to notice, Ursa came to Washington and said to him. "I think it's high time to take your friend for a ride." With that she positioned her above his cock and lower to have it inside of her and with her shuddering moan, she began to rock him.

Wash only watched in lust as Ursa gyrated her hips on him. He thrusted upward, increasing the friction. The two sloppily kissed each other, crying each other's name's out in full pleasure.


	16. Chapter 16

Ch 16 awakening

Wash turned around to see Aang stumble onto the deck, seeing Momo head towards his owner.

"Good to see you're awake." Sarge said, approaching the avatar.

"Sarge? Katara? What's happening?" Aang asked.

"Take it easy. You've been out for quite a while and…" Wash started, when Aang fainted.

"He's gonna fall. Catch him!" Toph warned, as Aang fell on his back.

Morning came, and Aang was talking to Katara, watching as everyone went on with their duties.

"Why is everyone dressed like that? What are we doing on a fire nation ship?" Aang asked.

"After the city fell, we fled to the bay, packed up our stuff and left. We stole a fire nation ship, and here we are." Wash said.

"So, where are we?" Aang asked.

"We just went by the serpents pass. We've encountered a few fire nation ships, but none have given us any trouble." Sokka said.

"What about the invasion plan?" Aang asked.

"Tucker came up with another plan by himself." Hakoda said.

"We take all your friends and allies and bring them to the fire nation for the final attack. But we have a problem. The solar eclipse is the only trump card, and it lasts 12 minutes at most." Tucker said.

"So, do you have a solution?" Aang asked.

"Unfortunately, no. If we can't get to the fire lord before the eclipses ends, the only option left is to put a bullet in his head." Tucker said.

Aang coughed his food out in surprise.

"You mean kill him?" Aang asked.

"Yeah, dumbass. Azula killed you, and the firelord won't hesitate when you face him." Tucker said.

"Tucker." Katara hissed.

"He's got a point. Aang, you'll have to kill the firelord before he kills you. A simple nature of war." Wash said.

Aang looked down, unsure of the prospects.

"Come on. Lets continue your healing." Katara said, taking Aang inside.

"That could have gone better." Ursa said.

"These kids shouldn't be fighting this war." Wash said.

"But they are." Ursa said.

"Yeah. They are." Wash muttered.

They encountered a fire nation cruiser heading in the opposite direction, and the red and blues hid with Aang and his friends. For the moment, negotiations between Bato, Hakoda, and the enemy captain was going smoothly.

Wash pressed the side of his helmet, and heard the enemy captain talking.

"We'll sink this ship when we're across." He said.

"They know!" Toph exclaimed, and used her metalbending to collapse the bridge. Katara rushed out and separated both ships with a master display of waterbending. With a head start, they fled the enemy cruiser, but were under constant bombardment by its artillery.

"Things can't get much worse." Sokka said, when the serpent appeared.

"Thanks for jinxing us." Griff growled, pointing his rifle at the beast. A fireball hit the serpent, and it attacked the fire nation ship.

As the day came to a close, Aang's friends decided to head into town to grab some food. Everyone else stayed on board.

"Wash, I want to talk to you." Ursa said.

"Sure thing." The freelancer said.

The two sat in their quarters, when Ursa spoke.

"What happened down there?" Ursa asked.

"In the capital. Why do you want to know?" Wash asked.

"Katara says she fought Zuko and Azula. I want to know one thing. Is she telling me the truth?" Ursa asked.

"One thing. Does anyone know who your children really are?" Wash asked, producing a pistol.

"No. No-one here knows." Ursa said.

Wash lowered his head, and looked up again.

"It's true. The fight did happen. And the next time we encounter each other on the eclipse, no quarter will be given." Wash said.

"I hope Katara patches things up with her dad." Ursa said.

"I've noticed." Wash said.

"I'd like to talk to her, but that'll reveal who I truly am, and Katara will most likely kill me in response." Ursa said.

"As far as anyone here knows, you're just a woman from the earth-kingdom. Lie about the children, say they've been killed in the war." Wash says.

Ursa contemplated the idea.

"Okay. I'll talk to her when she comes back. She reminds me of Azula. Younger sibling, very talented. Makes me wish things could have turned out differently." Ursa said.

"It wouldn't have made a difference. You said that Ozai would kill the kids if you tried to run with them. At least they're still alive." Wash says.

"For how long? You told me you fought against aliens who are more dangerous than the fire nation. If that's true, my kids don't stand a chance against you and your troopers." Ursa said, tears running down her cheeks.

That night, Aang was found missing. Katara ran to the deck, where she saw her father standing watch. Ursa quietly snuck behind, and listened to the conversation.

"…How could he just leave us like that?!"

"You're talking about me too, aren't you?" Hakoda asked.

"How could you Dad? I know why, but we were so lost without you." Katara said.

"Katara, I'm sorry. I think of you every minute of every day. Every night, I lie there, thinking about you and your brother." Hakoda said.

"I know why you left. So why… do I still feel this way?" Katara asked, angry and confused.

"Katara, I love you and your brother more than anything else in the world. Never forget that." Hakoda said, hugging his daughter.

Ursa left the scene and ran to her room. Closing the door, she let out a scream in anguish. She collapsed on her bed and sobs.

…

"We're going after him." Wash said.

"All of us?" Tucker asked.

"No. Infiltrating will be harder with all of us. Besides, it could be the last thing we do on this earth. I want the red and blues to gather the allies Sokka was talking about. And grab all the ammo and supplies from the ship. We'll need it." Wash said.

"I'm going with you." Ursa said, approaching the soldiers.

"You're crazy. Come on board." Wash said.


End file.
